Medicine has made tremendous progress in understanding the mechanisms that trigger arthritis, the exact causes are often unknown. A principle is simple: the more acute arthritis, the more likely it is to discover the origin. This is the case of microcrystalline arthritis: uric acid for example is in soluble form in the body. In different circumstances, the rate reached a saturation point and uric acid precipitates, that is to say, it forms crystals which themselves cause arthritis..

Beyond six weeks, we talk about chronic arthritis and in most cases the origin is unclear. Then you have to simply classify arthritis, which is very useful for determining treatment. This is for example the case of rheumatoid arthritis, a disease which often is not known the exact cause but we still learned to deal with.

Several clues suggest that genetic factors are involved in the development of arthritis: the unequal distribution by race or gender, the association of arthritis, disease, genetic hemochromatosis listed as well. The best example of association of rheumatic disease in a specific gene is ankylosing spondylitis, disease called ankylosing spondylitis in Switzerland. The discovery of this association dates back to the 70s: the gene, HLA B27, does not necessarily trigger arthritis, it is very common in the general population eral. Also, if the identification has a certain interest in terms of diagnosis in cases of doubt, the fact is no screening in asymptomatic patients.