Degenerative diseases are noninfectious disorders characterized by progressive disability in the patient. Patients often can live for years with their diseases. Although they may not die from degenerative diseases, patients' symptoms usually grow more disabling and they often succumb to common complications of their disorders.

Arthritis

The word "arthritis" comes from Greek words that literally translate as "joint inflammation." The name applies to more than 100 related diseases known as rheumatic diseases. A joint is any point where two bones meet. When a joint becomes inflamed, swelling, redness, pain, and loss of motion occur. Arthritis can be physically disabling.

Normally, inflammation is the body's response to an injury or a disease. It causes pain, redness, swelling, and warmth in the inflamed body part. Once the injury is healed or the disease is cured, the inflammation stops. In arthritis, however, the inflammation does not subside. Instead, it becomes...