Arthritis can be diagnosed through signs and symptoms such as joints are achy and back is hurting, explains Dr. Ronald Tolchin, Medical Director of the Baptist Health Center for Spine Care.
On physical exam therapists use loss of range of motion, tendonitis and tightness to diagnose arthritis. In spine cases, also physicians palpate that feeling of a bony restriction and they use diagnostic studies (x-Ray, MRI), too, he describes.
Arthritis in the back is very common, the specialist affirms. He adds there are two forms of arthritis: osteoarthritis, which is degenerative, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is an immunological disease.