Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis include joint pain, joint swelling, joint deformity and so on.
1. Joint pain: it is caused by inflammation of synovial membrane or soft tissues around the joints, and the inflammatory factor stimulates the local nociceptive nerve. It often occurs in the wrist, metacarpal fingers, proximal interphalangeal joints and other parts of the joints, and the pain is symmetrical, persistent, and sometimes severe and sometimes light.
2. Joint swelling: due to the inflammatory reaction of the soft tissues around the joints or the proliferation of synovial tissues, a large amount of joint fluid accumulates in the joint cavity, which leads to the symptom of joint swelling. Joint swelling is mostly symmetrical and usually occurs at the early stage of the disease, typically manifested as pike-shaped swelling of the proximal interphalangeal joints.
3. Joint deformity: it is due to the inflammation reaction blocking the contact between cartilage and joint fluid, or synovial vascular cataract erosion, leading to joint bone changes, thus causing joint deformity symptoms. It mostly appears in the late stage of rheumatoid arthritis disease.
In addition, rheumatoid arthritis can also manifest as joint movement difficulties, fever, muscle pain and other symptoms.