Let's start the subject of rheumatism with the definition of rheumatism. What does rheumatism mean? The word "rheumatism", which comes from the Greek root "rheuma" meaning body fluid flowing in the joints, does not have an exact Turkish equivalent. Our patients usually express rheumatism with words such as pain, ache, pain, wind, fever, "lock" and stiffness to describe the pain they suffer. However, all of these only express the painful and stiff side of rheumatism and are insufficient to describe the depth of the event. Diseases that cause pain, stiffness, limitation of movement, and sometimes swelling and deformity in the bones, muscles, joints that make up our movement system, and the ligaments connecting these structures can be generally called rheumatism. However, this definition is quite incomplete considering the current concept of rheumatism. Because rheumatic diseases are diseases that can affect joints, muscles, bones and ligaments as well as our skin, glands, respiratory tract and lungs, veins, heart, digestive system, kidneys, brain, nervous system, blood and, perhaps most importantly, our immune system. In fact, rheumatism is not a single disease and nearly 200 diseases fall into this class. Therefore, no matter what definition you make, some rheumatic diseases are excluded.
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