
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease that affects millions around the world every year. The constellation of symptoms, to include chronic joint pain and neck pain, back pain, and sciatica in the latter stages, are both debilitating and disabling. The cause of RA, while understood, is not without aggravating factors. The symptomology is complex and the disease expressions are myriad. Not only is there systemic, chronic pain in the latter stages, affecting joints throughout the body and hastening their degeneration, there is considerable damage to other organ systems, as well. Treatment of RA is problematic and understanding it in its entirety is something of problematic. We have reviewed the etiology (cause), consequences, symptoms, and some of the treatment strategies pertaining to RA, in Part III we will deal with specific treatment strategies available in greater depth, perhaps suggesting a couple of new ones.