How Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Affect the Ankle?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes your body’s immune system mistakenly to attack and inflame healthy tissue, especially in the lining of your joints.

More than 90 percent of people with rheumatoid arthritis develop foot and ankle symptoms over the course of the disease. About 70 percent of people with RA reported foot pain within 3 years of the disease onset.

The joint inflammation can be painful and cause swelling. In time, the inflammation can damage the joints. RA can have periods of remission and flare-up.

The cause of RA isn’t known, and there’s no cure yet. But a variety of treatment options can help you manage the disease. The earlier you begin to treat RA in your ankles, the better your outcome.

RA attacks your joints, most often starting with the hands and feet, and usually on both sides of your body. It can also cause problems in other body tissues and organs.

Your ankle joins your leg and foot. It’s composed of three bones: the shinbone (tibia), the calf bone (fibula), and the ankle bone (talus).

The lining of your joints (synovium) is lubricated with synovial fluid so that your joint glides when you move. When the lining becomes inflamed, over time it causes the joint, ligaments, and cartilage to become damaged.

Bones in your ankles can weaken as cartilage and tissues are damaged, causing bones to rub against each other. RA in your ankles can make it painful to walk and make your movement unsteady.

In a 2016 study of 5,637 people with RA in Japan, 43.8 percentTrusted Source of them reported that a problem with a foot or ankle joint was their first symptom.

RA in your ankles usually starts with mild symptoms that progressively worsen. At first, RA symptoms in your ankles or feet can be subtle and difficult to distinguish as RA.

It’s important to diagnose and treat RA in your ankles as early as possible. The damage is not reversible, but treatment can slow its progression.

Here are some symptoms of RA in your ankles:

• pain
• inflammation
• stiffness
• tenderness, warmth, redness
• Achilles tendon pain
• slower walking speedTrusted Source
• unsteadiness of movement
• pain in the morning and night
• difficulty standing
• lack of balance

RA in your ankles is often accompanied by RA in your feet. You may develop:

• bunions or corns
• toe misalignment, claw toes, or hammer toes
• bursitis
• rheumatoid nodules (lumps) below the skin on the foot
• pain in the ball of your foot
• arch collapse
• change in your foot shape

Because RA is a systemic disease, you may also have other symptoms, including:

• fatigue
• low fever
• loss of appetite and weight loss
• muscle weakness