Arthritis Glossary – P, Q & R
Pericardium
The membrane covering of the heart
Pericarditis
Inflammation of the membrane around the heart
Phalen maneuver
A test used for diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome that involves flexing the wrist to try to reproduce the person’s symptoms. It is named after Dr. George Phalen, a hand surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic who devised it.
Photosensitivity
A reaction or sensitivity to sunlight
Physical therapy
A program of exercise and other treatments to help keep muscles strong and joints from becoming stiff. Also can show the patient how to use special equipment to help move better and how to use devices such as crutches, walkers, and canes.
Placebo
An inactive substance that looks exactly like a drug being tested in a clinical trial
Plaquenil
See hydroxychloroquine
Pleura
The membrane covering of the lungs
Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)
An inflammatory condition, usually occurring after the age of 55, that causes pain or aching, usually felt in the large muscle groups, especially around the shoulders and hips. (Polymyalgia literally means "many muscle pains." Rheumatica means "changing" or "in flux.") PMR may be associated with giant cell arteritis in some patients.
Prednisolone
A type of corticosteroid medication (often called "steroids")
Prednisone
A type of corticosteroid medication (often called "steroids")
Probenecid
A medicine that lowers uric acid levels. It may be recommended for people who have had multiple attacks of gout. It has been largely replaced by the newer and more effective allopurinol.
Pseudogout
A form of arthritis that causes pain, stiffness, tenderness, redness, warmth, and swelling in some joints due to the deposit of calcium pyrophosphate crystals. Pseudogout commonly affects the knee or wrist.
Psoriasis
An inflammatory skin disorder characterized by frequent episodes of redness and itching; thick, dry, silvery scales on the skin; and nail abnormalities
Psoriatic arthritis
A form of inflammatory arthritis that affects some people who have the skin condition psoriasis
Pulmonary embolus
A blood clot that forms in a vein (often in the leg) and moves to the lung, where it deposits and blocks the flow of blood.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA)
A procedure in which an electrical current produced by a radiowave is used to heat up a small area of nerve tissue, thereby decreasing pain signals from that specific area
Range of motion
The normal distance a joint can move in certain directions
Range-of-motion exercises
Exercises that help maintain normal joint function by increasing and preserving joint mobility and flexibility. In this group of exercises, gently straightening and bending the joints in a controlled manner as far as they comfortably will go can help condition the affected joints. These also are called stretching or flexibility exercises.
Reiter's syndrome
A form of arthritis that, in addition to joints, also affects the eyes, urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body), and skin. Reiter's syndrome also is called reactive arthritis, which is the preferred name.
Rheumatoid arthritis
A type of chronic inflammatory arthritis that occurs (typically, though not always) in joints on both sides of the body (such as both hands, wrists, or knees). This symmetry helps distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from other types of arthritis. In addition to affecting the joints, rheumatoid arthritis may occasionally affect the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood, nerves, or kidneys.
Rheumatoid factors
A variety of antibodies that are present in 70 to 90 percent of people with rheumatoid arthritis. These antibodies are directed against IgG, a protein that is present in normal blood.
Rheumatrex
A brand name for the chemotherapeutic drug methotrexate, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain other rheumatic diseases (especially polymyositis and certain types of vasculitis)
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