Rheumatology is a field of medicine which specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. These diseases affect joints, muscles and bones and are usually caused by imbalance of the immune system. Apart from affect on joints, there may be involvement of skin and other internal organs such as lungs, kidneys, heart and liver. It is therefore extremely important that all Rheumatological conditions are timely diagnosed and properly treated to avoid serious complications.

There are more than 200 different Rheumatological diseases which are seen in rheumatology clinics but the commonest ones are the following:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis related arthritis
• Juvenile Idiopathic arthritis
• Gout and pseudogout
• Septic arthritis
• Reactive arthritis
• Osteoarthritis
• Sarcoid, Hepatitis, endocrine and cancer related arthropathies
• Different types of vasculitis
• Connective tissue disorders including SLE, Sjogrens, scleroderma, CREST syndrome
• Inflammatory muscle diseases such as polymyositis and dermatomyositis