Gout – Affected Body Parts

Transcript

A gout flare can usually occur one joint at a time, but not always. The big toe is a common joint that’s affected. The medical term for that is podagra. However, any joints like the ankles, the knees, the elbows, can all be affected by gout. The reason that gout most often occurs in the toe is because uric acid, a by-product of purine metabolism, is actually very sensitive to temperature changes. So the further away from the heart you go, the colder the temperature, and therefore you have a lot more urate crystal deposition to your big toe because that’s the furthest away from your heart.