Patient's facing polyarthralgia and polyarthritis

Joint pain is a frequent reason for consultation in clinical practice. The distinction of the type of pain, its distribution, the accompanying symptoms, the physical examination and the evaluation of some laboratory test help to guide about the possible causes and to investigate serious diseases that can cause joint destruction or involvement other organs, in order to provide timely and effective treatment. This article gives some guidelines that can be carried out in the Primary Care consultation to distinguish acute and chronic polyarthralgia and polyarthritis. In addition, notions of some of the most frequent rheumatological diseases are given.