ABSTRACT
This chapter examines joint diseases, which are among the most common conditions that afflict the skeleton. The chapter starts with osteoarthritis and continues with erosive arthropathies, which include rheumatoid arthritis and seronegative spondyloarthritides (ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and enteropathic arthritis). A brief presentation of less common forms of synovial joint disease, that is, gout and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, is given after that, while the chapter concludes with conditions that may affect the joints of the spine, specifically spinal osteophytosis, Schmorl’s nodes, and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. For each of these conditions, emphasis is placed on their aetiological factors and skeletal manifestations.
