Whenever the climate changes or the weather is cold, we often hear the elderly around us chanting: my old rheumatism problem is back! As soon as the weather turns cooler, they will “arm” themselves early to prevent the “recurrence” of the old disease. But did you know that the old problem you’ve had for years may not be rheumatism but osteoarthritis? The relevant experts said that in the patients, many patients often come to the first sentence is: they suffer from rheumatism for many years, and only after the examination suddenly realized: the original rheumatism for many years is actually osteoarthritis, their own “misdiagnosis”. As China enters an aging society, the number of degenerative diseases caused by bone damage has increased greatly among the aging population, especially among women after menopause, and the pain caused by osteophytes and osteoporosis is often a problem in normal life. For various reasons, the level of awareness of this issue is limited, and many older people mistakenly treat osteoarthritis as rheumatism, whenever the climate or seasonal changes and other causes of joint pain, they will give themselves a diagnosis of “rheumatism”, the chaotic treatment of rheumatism, not only ineffective, often bringing many side effects. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive loss of joint cartilage, excessive bone hyperplasia, chronic clinical joint pain, stiffness, hypertrophy and limited activity degenerative lesions, commonly known as “bone spurs”, “osteophytes”. In fact, it is not an inflammatory disease, but rather an aging and wear and tear of the joints, especially of the articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis represents the aging of joints and is therefore called degenerative arthritis, age-related arthritis, and hypertrophic arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease, occurring in middle-aged and older adults over the age of 50, with the onset increasing with age. More than 40% of people over the age of 60 have osteoarthritis, and the ratio of women to men is 2:1. However, not all people have symptoms, and some people are only detected by taking a film. Don’t underestimate osteoarthritis as a major cause of pain and disability in the elderly. The main cause of osteoarthritis is the destruction of articular cartilage, the softening and loss of elasticity of the articular cartilage matrix, the loss of strength, and the sclerosis or cystic degeneration of the subchondral bone and the formation of bone fragments, resulting in pain and movement disorders, and in severe cases, disability of the affected limb. Although osteoarthritis begins in the articular cartilage, it affects the entire joint structure, including the subchondral bone, ligaments, synovium, joint capsule and extra-articular muscles, and eventually results in joint deformity and loss of function due to total loss of articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis is classified as primary or secondary depending on the presence or absence of clear local or systemic pathogenic factors. Primary osteoarthritis is a condition for which no cause can be identified. Aging, gender, endocrine factors, genetics, race, obesity, and immunological abnormalities may all be associated with the development of osteoarthritis. Secondary osteoarthritis has an etiology that includes trauma, inflammatory joint disorders, metabolic or endocrine disorders, crystal deposition diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and excessive use of glucocorticoids in the joint cavity. Osteoarthritis can be found in joints throughout the body, but is more likely to occur in the neck, low back, hip, knee, and foot and finger end joints, exhibiting pain, swelling, friction sounds, deformities, and limited motion in the corresponding joints. In the hand, the dorsal and medial surfaces of the distal interphalangeal joints tend to form bone spurs, and flexion or lateral deviation of the distal bone is common. In contrast, invasion of the 1st carpometacarpal joint may cause pressure pain at the base of the 1st metacarpal, giving the hand a square appearance. When osteoarthritis is present in the knee joint, the knee joint may become painful and sore, which may be aggravated by long distance walking, strenuous exercise, exposure to cold or rainy weather. Some people may feel weakness and weakness in both knees, fall easily, have difficulty going down stairs, cannot hold weight, and experience significant joint gumming. There is pain and stiffness when squatting, which is relieved when resting, and there is limited pressure pain in the joints and bone hypertrophy due to osteophytes. Sometimes there is also joint effusion. There are bone rattling and friction sounds when the joint is moved, and secondary muscle atrophy occurs later. Severe cases result in limited joint motion, secondary inversion or valgus of the knee due to medial or lateral cartilage interval lesions, and lateral ligament lesions resulting in subluxation of the joint. Patients with hip onset present with occult pain followed by claudication. The pain is mostly located in the groin or along the medial aspect of the thigh, but also manifests as pain in the hip, sciatic area or knee, which is aggravated by initial standing and slightly relieved by activity. Internal rotation and extension of the hip joint may be limited on one or both sides, with loss of hip motion in severe cases. Osteoarthritis can also occur in the foot, most commonly in the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and is aggravated by wearing tight shoes. Localized joint irregularity with localized nodularity and pressure pain, followed by deformity of the first toe valgus and limited motion. When a bone spur occurs in the heel bone, the pain on the bottom of the foot when walking is heavy in the morning and light in the afternoon, and the first step of getting up and going down is often unbearable, sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Spine, osteoarthritis of the spine can be caused by invasion of intervertebral discs, vertebral bodies, or small synapses, etc. Involvement of the lumbar spine is most common in L3 to L4. Associated symptoms include localized pain and stiffness, as well as radicular pain due to compression of adjacent nerve roots. Rarely, cauda equina syndrome with sphincter malfunction may also occur. Large bony bulges in the anterior cervical spine can sometimes cause dysphagia or respiratory symptoms, and compression of the nerve roots or spinal cord itself can cause a variety of neuropathies. Although it is not yet possible to prevent osteoarthritis from occurring, there are a number of measures that can be taken to reduce or delay the occurrence of osteoarthritis. Family members should relieve the patient’s mind of stress and allow him or her to rest properly, but also help the patient to face the disease and build confidence. In daily life, patients should not overload their joints, get wet, or get cold. Avoid prolonged standing and sitting, and do not leave the joints in a certain position for too long. Reduce weight and try not to wear high heels. Wear knee pads or elastic bandages to protect your knees and other joints. Also, middle-aged and older people, especially women, may have the following symptoms that signal the onset of osteoarthritis: joint pain, joint stiffness, clicking or other rubbing sounds when the joint is moved, sometimes swelling, and difficulty moving the joint. If any of these symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks, it is important to go to a regular hospital and receive a diagnosis from a specialist.