Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis causes inflammation in and around the joints. It usually affects people who already have psoriasis, a skin condition that causes a red, scaly rash, especially on the elbows, knees, back, buttocks and scalp. However, some people develop the arthritic symptoms before the psoriasis, while others will never develop the skin condition.

Psoriasis can affect people of any age, both male and female, but psoriatic arthritis tends to affect more adults than young people.

Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include:

  • Joint pain, swelling and stiffness lasting more than 30 minutes in the morning which improves with activity
  • Swollen fingers or toes (dactylitis), caused by inflammation in both joints and tendons
  • Buttock or back pain, caused by inflammation in the spine (spondylitis)
  • Pain and swelling in the heels (Achilles tendonitis/plantar fasciitis) or other areas where tendons attach to bones, eg knee, hip and chest, tennis elbow
  • Pitting, discoloration and thickening of your nails

As with other types of inflammatory arthritis, treatment is with disease modifying anti-rheumatic medicines (DMARDS).

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