Rheumatology and Rheumatic Diseases

Written by Debra Fulghum Bruce, PhD, Timothy Gower

Medically Reviewed by David Zelman, MD on May 11, 2026

What Are Rheumatic Diseases?

Rheumatic diseases affect your joints, tendons, ligaments, bones, and muscles. They include many types of arthritis, a term used for conditions that affect your joints. Sometimes, they’re called musculoskeletal diseases.

One type of rheumatic disease, osteoarthritis, is very common — it affects about 32.5 million adults in the U.S. However, other types of rheumatic disease are less common. For example, roughly 1.3 million adults in the U.S. have a form called rheumatoid arthritis. Meanwhile, about 200,000 Americans have the rheumatic disease known as lupus.

The medical field that studies these types of conditions is called rheumatology. If your regular doctor thinks you have a rheumatic disease, they’ll probably send you to a rheumatologist — a doctor who’s specially trained to treat them.

From leeches to whale carcasses, early treatments for rheumatoid arthritis were not ideal. But we’ve come a long way in easing pain and inflammation for people with RA.

Your rheumatologist will diagnose your condition, then oversee a treatment plan for you that will likely include medications, regular exercise, a healthy diet, stress management, and rest.

Rheumatic Diseases: Causes and Risk Factors

Most of these conditions happen when your immune system goes awry and attacks your own tissues. Doctors aren’t sure what causes this. However, scientists have discovered that certain risk factors may make you more likely to have a rheumatic disease, including:

Your genes: Some genes may develop changes (or mutations) that seem to increase your risk for certain rheumatic diseases.

Your sex: Some rheumatic diseases are more common in one sex. For example, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus occur more often in women and those assigned female birth (AFAB), while ankylosing spondylitis affects people assigned male at birth more often.

Your weight: Being obese increases your risk for some rheumatic diseases.

Your health history: Some infections, as well as experiencing childhood trauma and distress, are linked to a greater risk for certain rheumatic diseases. Conditions such as gum disease may increase your risk, too.

Your habits: Smoking is a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic diseases.

Your exposure to toxins: There is evidence that being exposed to some pollutants and chemicals makes you more likely to develop a rheumatic disease.

Related:How Biologic Therapy Helps Manage Rheumatoid Arthritis

Common Symptoms of Rheumatic Diseases

Some common symptoms of rheumatic diseases include:

Joint pain, soreness, and tenderness
Inflammation, or swelling, redness, and warmth in a joint or affected area
Joint stiffness and limited motion in a joint or joints, especially when you get out of bed in the morning
Joints feel better after light activity, but worse after strenuous exercise
Joints feel worse during stormy or humid weather
Frequently feeling tired

What is rheumatism pain like?

If you have a rheumatic disease, you may feel a deep, aching pain in one or more joints. Your joint or joints will be tender and hurt if they’re touched. The painful joint will probably be stiff, too, especially after you have been sitting or lying down for a while. You may notice that the pain is worse on some days than others, for no apparent reason.

Common Rheumatic Diseases

Years ago, conditions like this fell under the broad category of rheumatism. Now, there are more than 200 distinct rheumatic diseases. The most common ones include:

Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Lupus
Spondyloarthropathies — ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA)
Sjogren’s syndrome
Gout
Scleroderma
Infectious arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Polymyalgia rheumatica

Common rheumatic diseases in children

Children can develop rheumatic diseases, which include:

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, which has several forms
Childhood-onset lupus
Fibromyalgia
Juvenile ankylosing spondylitis
Rheumatic fever
Scleroderma
Infectious arthritis
Kawasaki disease
Childhood vasculitis
Henoch-Schönlein purpura

While all of these conditions are rheumatic diseases, each has unique symptoms, signs, and treatment, which are discussed below.

Osteoarthritis (OA)

What is it? Unlike most rheumatic diseases, osteoarthritis isn’t linked to problems with your immune system. It results from damage to cartilage — the cushiony material on the end of your bones. As it wears down, your joints hurt and become harder to move. OA usually affects the knees, hips, lower back, neck, fingers, and feet.

Symptoms

Pain
Swelling
Warmth
Stiffness

Muscle weakness can make joints unstable. Depending on what parts of the body it affects, OA can make it hard to walk, grip objects, dress, comb your hair, or sit.

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