Osteoarthritis

For a lay person:

Osteoarthritis is the commonest form of arthritis, where the cartilage that cushions joints wears down. It causes pain and stiffness, mostly in the knees, hips, hands and spine.

For a trained medical person:

A whole-joint disease with cartilage loss, osteophytes and synovitis. Diagnosis is clinical. Management: exercise, weight loss, analgesia, topical NSAIDs, intra-articular steroids and joint replacement for advanced disease.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Moving bi; Painful bi; Fixed bi; Heat Bi; Phlegm and stasis obstructing the network vessels; Qi and Blood Deficiency; Kidney Yin Deficiency; Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.