Joints and Musculoskeletal Disorders

With the increase in the life expectancy and ageing population, the prevalence of arthritis will increase. This chapter provides an overview of selected forms of arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders in the very elderly and our current understanding of the pathophysiology. Osteoarthritis (OA) was considered to be a non-inflammatory condition, but now it is evident that this is not so. There is evidence linking local inflammation with pain measured as synovitis/effusion. Symptoms in cervical spondylotic myelopathy include clumsiness and weakness of the hands, leg stiffness with weakness and an unsteady gait. As the patients get older, the diagnostic probabilities of low back pain as to their prevalence change, malignancy/neoplasia, compression fractures, spinal stenosis and aortic aneurysms. Polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis (GCA) are closely related and often occur concurrently. GCA can cause sudden blindness in one or both eyes.