Which condition is an example of non-inflammatory systemic joint pain?

• A. Fibromyalgia
• B. Leukemia
• C. STD's
• D. Crohn's disease

Answer: (A)

The main idea is recognizing conditions that cause widespread joint and muscle pain without inflammatory signs in the joints. In non-inflammatory systemic joint pain, you have pain or tenderness across multiple joints and muscles, but there are no visible signs of inflammation (no swelling, warmth, or redness) and inflammatory tests are typically normal.

Fibromyalgia fits this pattern. It produces chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain along with fatigue, sleep problems, and sometimes cognitive difficulties, yet there are no objective inflammatory changes in the joints. Joints themselves aren’t damaged by inflammation, and blood tests usually don’t show elevated inflammatory markers.

Leukemia can cause bone or joint discomfort, but it’s a broader hematologic condition with systemic symptoms and isn’t characterized primarily by non-inflammatory joint pain. Infections or sexually transmitted diseases can involve joints, but those manifestations are typically inflammatory rather than non-inflammatory. Crohn’s disease involves intestinal inflammation and often inflammatory arthritis, so it doesn’t match the non-inflammatory joint-pain pattern.

So the example of non-inflammatory systemic joint pain is fibromyalgia.