The term rheumatism combines well over 100 different diseases which affect the musculoskeletal system. Elderly people can be just as affected by it as the young or even children. Joint inflammations and joint wear often occur at the same time because they are closely interlinked.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease: Involving the immune system mistakenly classifying endogenous cells as harmful and "fighting" them by means of inflammation. In fibromyalgia, not the joints are painful, but certain points in the body's "soft tissue", i.e. musculature.
