Arthritis is inflammation (pain and swelling) of the joints. It can involve single or multiple joints of hands, legs, or back.
Note that, It is not a single disease, but a manifestation of various diseases comprising of more than a hundred different Rheumatic conditions. They can be:
Autoimmune: For example
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Ankylosing spondylitis/ spondyloarthritis
- SLE/ Lupus
- Psoriatic arthritis
- IBD associated arthritis
- Systemic vasculitis
- Connective tissue diseases
- Sarcoidosis
- Juvenile Idiopathic arthritis
Infective: For example
- TB
- Septic arthritis
- Viral and post viral arthritis (Dengue, chikungunya etc.)
- Lyme’s disease
Degenerative: For example
Metabolic: For example
- Gouty arthritis
- Pseudogout
- Hypothyroid arthropathy
Others: For example
- Paraneoplastic arthropathy
Does Arthritis involve the joints only?
NO!!!! Almost all Arthritis and other Rheumatic diseases are multi-system disorders and can involve any part of the body. There is an endless list of presentations of Rheumatic disease. There are more than a hundred types of Rheumatic diseases and each subtype has a specific spectrum of manifestations. Some of the common presentations apart from joint symptoms(Extra-articular manifestations) are:

