At the beginning of the consultation, after the doctor’s examination and the corresponding auxiliary tests, the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was basically ruled out, which should have been much easier on the heart, but many people also have questions: “When I consulted a Chinese doctor before, the doctor said I was rheumatic, but this time I saw a Western doctor and said it was not rheumatoid, am I rheumatic or not? ”What is the difference between rheumatism and rheumatoid?” ”Is it called rheumatoid if the condition is severe and rheumatoid if it is mild?” ”……” In response to patients’ confusion about rheumatic diseases, we will first briefly introduce the concept of such diseases: First of all, let’s make it clear that the diagnosis of rheumatism is different between Chinese medicine and Western medicine. In Chinese medicine, rheumatism belongs to rheumatism paralysis, which refers to the discomfort of joints and muscles caused by cold and dampness, and when it involves the knee joint, it is commonly known as “old cold leg”. Chinese medicine has its own characteristics, such as Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, herbal fumigation, medicinal wine rubbing, fire therapy, etc. to increase the clinical effectiveness. Rheumatic diseases in Western medicine are a large group of diseases involving bones, joints, muscles, skin, blood vessels and other tissues. It includes a wide range, and is divided into ten categories of more than 200 diseases at home and abroad. Rheumatoid arthritis, often referred to as “rheumatoid” is only one of these rheumatic diseases, is a chronic, symmetrical, multi-joint synovitis and extra-articular lesions as the main clinical manifestations of chronic systemic autoimmune diseases. The disease occurs in small joints of the hands, wrists and feet, with recurrent attacks and symmetrical distribution. In the early stage, there is redness, swelling, pain and dysfunction of the joints, and in the late stage, the joints may have different degrees of stiffness and deformity, accompanied by atrophy of skeletal muscles. Most rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid rheumatism, have unknown causes and are mostly thought to be related to immune factors. The diagnosis of rheumatic diseases in Western medicine is based on a combination of patient’s symptoms, physical signs, auxiliary examinations, and other findings, in accordance with the diagnostic criteria of evidence-based medicine. For rheumatism, different types of diseases within this broad category, different treatment plans should be formulated according to the condition. Thus, it is clear that patients with “rheumatism in Chinese medicine” are not necessarily “rheumatism in Western medicine”, and patients with “rheumatism” are not necessarily “rheumatoid arthritis.”