The term arthritis literally means joint inflammation, but it also is used to refer to more than 100 rheumatic diseases. These diseases can cause pain, stiffness, and swelling in joints and may also affect other parts of the body.

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Find answers in our in-depth reports on arthritis:

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Arthroscopy
• Hip replacement
• Knee replacement

In her own words: living with osteoarthritis

In her own words: living with rheumatoid arthritis

Help for hip pain

When your hip joint begins to break down, you're in for constant pain. It wakes you up at night and curtails most of your physical activities during the day. Fortunately, there are a number of treatment options that can greatly improve this chronic, painful condition.

Practical prevention: averting osteoarthritis

There's a lot you can do to prevent the disorder—or at least delay its impact—according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Click here for a rundown of risk factors and arthritis prevention tips.

Hip fracture prevention

Each year in the US over 300,000 people 65 years old or older break a hip. Read how hip protectors help to prevent hip fractures.

Dietary supplements for osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is by far the most common form of arthritis. So common, in fact, that if you are over 40, there is a 90% chance you already show signs, though you probably don't know it. Find out if there are supplements that may provide relief.

Ceramic hip replacement devices

For people who have suffered through years of hip pain and discomfort, hip replacement surgery can change their lives.

True or false: changes in the weather can make your joints stiff or achy

For many people, the flare-up of an arthritic knee or shoulder appears to signal a change in the weather—usually hinting that a storm is imminent. Are the two really related?

True or false: cracking your knuckles can lead to arthritis

If you cracked your knuckles as a child, you may have been warned that it could cause you to develop arthritis later in life. Is this true?

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Diabetes
• Fibromyalgia
• Gout
• Hip fracture
• Lupus
• Lyme disease
• Obesity

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis