Common Joint Disorders (Nursing)

00:01 So we will conclude this lecture by talking about different disorders that can affect the joints.

00:08 The first disorder we will discuss is rheumatoid arthritis.

00:12 Please be mindful that rheumatoid arthritis is just one type of arthritis.

00:18 Arthritis is a general term meaning inflammation of the joint.

00:23 In rheumatoid arthritis, we have an autoimmune disorder where the body starts attacking the components of the joint such as the cartilage or the synovial cavity.

00:35 A second disorder that can affect the joints is Lyme disease.

00:40 Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that is found in deer ticks.

00:45 You can find out if you have Lyme disease by the characteristic bullseye rash that occurs when you are bitten by the tick.

00:55 In this disease, one of the characteristic symptoms is inflammation at the joints or arthritis.

01:04 A third disorder that affects the joints is going to be sprains.

01:09 Sprains involve twisting of the joint, which overburdens the ligaments and causes them to either overstretch or to tear.

01:20 Opposite to sprains are strains.

01:23 Strains however, are not necessarily joint disorders and in fact affect the muscles and the tendons.

01:33 A fourth type of disorder is tenosynovitis.

01:37 Tenosynovitis is a general term meaning an inflammation of the tendons and the synovial cavity of a joint.

01:46 Finally, we can also talk about dislocation.

01:50 In this example, we're going to talk about dislocation of the mandible.

01:54 This can occur when you yawn too hard or chewing on something really hard, which causes the mandible to be displaced from its original joint.

02:05 And it's also very painful.

02:09 So lastly, let's talk about how we treat the sprains and the joint inflammations that can occur.

02:16 We use a simple acronym PRICE P stands for Protection.

02:22 At first, we want to make sure that we protect the area of the injury.

02:28 This can include things like getting off of it or using crutches or something to relieve pressure at that joint.

02:36 The second thing is Rest.

02:39 Rest also involves resting the area of the injury so that we do not further the injury.

02:47 The third is Ice.

02:50 Ice allows for vasoconstriction or reducing of swelling by allowing the blood to not pool in the area.

03:00 Fourth, we have Compression.

03:02 Like ice, this also reduces swelling.

03:07 And finally, we have Elevation.

03:10 Along with ice and compression, elevation serves to reduce swelling.