How can rheumatoid arthritis be treated effectively? Rheumatoid arthritis affects around 400,000 individuals in the UK, it is the most relentless chronic form of arthritis and for adults it is the second form more common in patients (1). “Rheumatoid arthritis is more common among women than among men and usually develops in the fourth to fifth decades of life” (A). Rheumatoid arthritis is serious as it is a form of autoimmune disease, in which the body's immune system attacks and damages functioning tissues, due to an inability to recognize the difference between foreign cells and normal cells. For example, it damages the synovial membrane surrounding the knee and begins bone erosion. This damage to functioning tissue triggers an inflammatory response that causes fluid to build up around the knee (2). However it can occur in any joint, which is why it is such a big problem as you simply cannot inhibit the effects of the immune system, as it would leave you extremely vulnerable to more life-threatening diseases. If effective treatment is not applied, it could be disabling for patients, the inflammation causes pain, stiffness, muscle pain, rheumatoid nodules (clumps of tissue) and tiredness (3). The problem with rheumatoid arthritis is that it causes disabling pain and it is difficult to delay the rate at which it develops. There are several ways you can reduce the appearance of pain, and there are processes available to avoid pain and prevent inflammation. The most common way to prevent this is the use of painkillers such as codeine and paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen and corticosteroid drugs (4). However, scientists are currently trying to discover ways to prevent the body from attacking the bone...... middle of paper ......the machine is a small electronic device that sends impulses to nerve endings via pads placed on the skin". The disadvantages of this are that it is time consuming and some exercises may be too painful to do. (14) Source 14 data was obtained from Arthritis Research UK, which is a member of the Fundraising Standard Board and has been a charity since 1936. The charity works by funding the development of arthritis research, so the information on the website are correct as the source is from a research centre, also the data is supported on the NHS website. However the data could be distorted to give people false hope of encouraging funding. These alternative solutions only work by postponing damage or relieving pain while anti-TNF works by blocking the source of the problem and allowing the patient to return to their previous state of well-being. being.