Joint Disorders—Blood Disorders

Also called: Hematologic diseases

Your blood is living tissue made up of liquid and solids. The liquid part, called plasma, is made of water, salts and protein. Over half of your blood is plasma. The solid part of your blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Blood disorders affect one or more parts of the blood and prevent your blood from doing its job. They can be acute or chronic. Many blood disorders are inherited. Other causes include other diseases, side effects of medicines, and a lack of certain nutrients in your diet.

Types of blood disorders include

• Platelet disorders, excessive clotting, and bleeding problems, which affect how your blood clots
• Anemia, which happens when your blood does not carry enough oxygen to the rest of your body
• Cancers of the blood, such as leukemia and myeloma
• Eosinophilic disorders, which are problems with one type of white blood cell.

• Blood differential test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Blood smear (Medical Encyclopedia)
• CBC (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hematocrit (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hemoglobin (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Low white blood cell count and cancer (Medical Encyclopedia)
• RBC count (Medical Encyclopedia)
• RBC indices (Medical Encyclopedia)
• WBC count (Medical Encyclopedia)

A joint is where two or more bones come together, like the knee, hip, elbow, or shoulder. Joints can be damaged by many types of injuries or diseases, including

• Arthritis – inflammation of a joint. It causes pain, stiffness, and swelling. Over time, the joint can become severely damaged.
• Bursitis – inflammation of a fluid-filled sac that cushions the joint
• Dislocations – injuries that force the ends of the bones out of position

Treatment of joint problems depends on the cause. If you have a sports injury, treatment often begins with the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) method to relieve pain, reduce swelling, and speed healing. Other possible treatments include pain relievers, keeping the injured area from moving, rehabilitation, and sometimes surgery. For arthritis, injuries, or other diseases, you may need joint replacement surgery to remove the damaged joint and put in a new one.

NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

• Hypermobile joints (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Joint pain (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Joint swelling (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Joint x-ray (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Limited range of motion (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Steroid injections – tendon, bursa, joint (Medical Encyclopedia)