According to Ayurveda
The cause of arthritis, Indivisuals who are immuno-compromised and have unhealthy life style (Who eat lot high sugary and fatty food and have limited physical activity .Excessive Consumption of following foods can cause arthritis. -- Salt ,citrus,pungent,acidic,and high fat foods ,eating during indigestion ,eating excessive no vageterian foods ,foods like urid dal,radish vinegar,buttermilk, alcohol ,beer ,unsuitable combination of foods eating food prior to previous meal being digested,erratic life style with excessive sleeping during the day and not sleeping during the night can cause arthritis in above group of people .

Approach of Ayurveda in Arthritis
According to Ayurveda genetic and environmental factor a big role in causing arthritis .We can think of arthritis as a plant needs soil for growth .Soil here equalises genetical factors .The seeds is planted in the soil .The seed is the non –genetical risk factors.The richer the soil in genes associated with arthritis, person need fewer seeds for a plant to grow .Thus several cases of arthritis, it is likely that

Rheumatoid Arthritis
Introduction - Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, progressive and disabling auto-immune disease affecting adult population. It is a incredibly painful condition can cause serious physical,mental and economic consequences.The disease can progress very rapidly ( depand upon the severity and aggressiveness of the disease) and causing swelling, damaging cartilage and bone around the joints. Any joint may be involved but commnly the hands,feet and wrists joints are involved. Being a systemic disease it can effect the internal organs such as lung , heart, etc.

Histo-pathophysiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic and progressive inflammatory disorder,charcterised by synovitis and joint destruction . The pathogenesis of RA is a complex process ,involving synovial cell proliferation and fibrosis ,pannus formation ,cartilage and bone erosion .Synovium intimal layer is grately hypertrophied (8-10 layers thick) which is normally 1-3 cells thick.And subintimal area of the synovium where normally has very few cells,In RA this area is heavily ifiltrated with inflammatory cells,including
T and B lymphocytes, macrophages and mast cells. The intense cellular infiltrate is accompanied by new blood vessel growth (angiogenesis)
In RA hypertrophied synovium (also called pannus) invades and erodes contiguous bone and cartilage .As such, it can be thought of as a tumour-like tissue.

Cartilage
Cartilage primarily composed of type II collagen and proteoglycans ,this is normally a very resilient tissue that absorbs considerable impact and stress .In RA ,Its intigrity ,Resilience and water content all are impaired .This apper to be due to elaboration of proteolytic enzymes (collagenase,stromelysin) both by synovial lining cells and by chondrocytes themselves .Polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the synovial fluid may also contribute to this degradative process .

Bone
Primarily composed of type –I collagen, invading synovium causes erosion of contiguous bone via release of prostaglandins and proteases by synovial cells and ,possible by osteoclasts .Synovial cavity –Synovial cavity normally only a potential space with 1-2 ml of highly viscous fluid with few cells.In RA ,Large collections of fluid (effusion) occur which are the filtrates of plasma and therefore exudative –e.i.,high protein content ). The synovial fluid is highly inflammatory, unlike the rheumatoid synovial tissue that is infiltrated with lymphocytes and macrophages but not neutrophil, the predominant cell in the synovial fluid is the neutrophil .
These all above changes is mediated by an independent network of cytokines,prostanoids and proteolytic enzymes .Proinflammatory cytokines ,such as interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor –alpha are central mediators in RA..This is illustrated in patients with RA ,who experience an initial cell mediated response that leads to the presence of elevated levels of IL-1 in the synovial fluid .Furthermore ,IL-1 concentrations in the plasma have been reported to correlate with the disease activity .It has also been demontrated that patients with erosive RA have higher synovial and circulating levels of IL-1 than patient without eros IL-1 has a wide range of activities within the reumatoid joint that are believed to contribute towards the painful inflammatory signs and symptoms of RA .IL-1 is a key mediator of synovial inflammation and pannus formation ,and is thought to contribute to the impairment of tissue repair processes and the destruction of bone cartilage in RA.