Tendinitis

Tendinitis (informally also tendonitis), meaning inflammation of a tendon (the suffix “itis” means “inflammation”), is a type of tendinopathy often confused with the more common tendinosis, which has similar symptoms but requires different treatment. The term tendinitis should be reserved for tendon injuries that involve larger-scale acute injuries accompanied by inflammation. Generally tendinitis is referred to by the body part involved, such as Achilles tendinitis (affecting the Achilles tendon), or patellar tendinitis (jumper’s knee, affecting the patellar tendon).

Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica (meaning “pain in many muscles” in Greek), abbreviated as PMR, is an inflammatory condition of the muscles, which causes pain or stiffness, usually in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The pain can be very sudden, or can occur gradually over a period of time.

Most PMR sufferers wake up in the morning with pain in their muscles; however, there have been cases in which the patient has developed the pain during the evenings. Patients who have polymyalgia rheumatica may also have temporal arteritis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of blood vessels in the face. PMR usually goes away within a year or two after treatment.

Ankylosed Joints

Ankylosis, or Anchylosis (from Greek ἀγκύλος, bent, crooked) is a stiffness of a joint, the result of injury or disease. The rigidity may be complete or partial and may be due to inflammation of the tendinous or muscular structures outside the joint or of the tissues of the joint itself. Noma – a gangrenous disease still widespread among malnourished children living on the borders of the Sahara desert – can cause ankylosis of the maxilla and mandible, impairing the ability to speak and eat.

When the structures outside the joint are affected, the term “false” ankylosis has been used in contradistinction to “true” ankylosis, in which the disease is within the joint. When inflammation has caused the joint-ends of the bones to be fused together the ankylosis is termed osseous or complete. Excision of a completely ankylosed shoulder or elbow may restore free mobility and usefulness to the limb. “Ankylosis” is also used as an anatomical term, bones being said to ankylose (or anchylose) when, from being originally distinct, they coalesce, or become so joined together that no motion can take place between them.