VIDEO: Detecting early signs of rheumatoid arthritis

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Early on with patients with rheumatoid arthritis, people tend to experience joint pain and stiffness. Stiffness is a key part for rheumatoid arthritis, where that distinguishes it from just feeling a feeling of pain. Morning stiffness particularly, stiffness for hours in the morning, that's a very worrisome sign and more consistent with rheumatoid arthritis than other types of pain. Patients often feel fatigue and those types of symptoms that are not necessarily articular. And I think maybe the thing that demands a physician looking at this early is joint swelling. So, joints that are swollen and warm and hot and have signs of inflammation really should seek a rheumatologist more urgently because that is a more specific sign of rheumatoid arthritis. Many patients have joint pain and ends up not being rheumatoid arthritis, of course, but joint swelling is something that we take very seriously because it's associated with more joint damage and is more specific for the disease.