About six years ago, Mike Braucher, 58, had to stop playing basketball with his sons because of joint pain. After a few pain medications didn’t work, he was eventually referred to a rheumatologist who provided a more accurate diagnosis: Psoriatic arthritis, a chronic condition marked by joint pain and skin symptoms.
Braucher, like many with psoriatic arthritis, experienced an inability to do what he loved because of his symptoms. Fortunately, his rheumatologist provided the right diagnosis and psoriatic arthritis treatment plan, allowing Braucher to return to his regular routine. “We’re in an amazing era of treatment with options that were not available 10 years ago,” says Julius Birnbaum, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and author…