 Hi, I am Dr. Vijay Rao, I am a consultant working in rheumatology department in Manipal Hospital's Bangalore. Arthritis is broadly divided into two types, one which affects young people, that is immune mediated arthritis, which usually affects people between the ages of 15 to 45 years or up until even 60 years. Then there is an old age arthritis which usually affects with people with repetitive activities and aging and cartilage loss. We call that osteoarthritis. The difference between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis is, rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammation in the joints as opposed to osteoarthritis is age related degeneration in the joint.