I think it can but what do I know? My hands were my barometer for how much "systemic inflammation" I had on any given day. This was especially true in the morning before taking my Prednisone dose. My rheumatologist didn't think my hands were strictly PMR related because she pointed out that I had arthritis in my hands.

I think of inflammation as white blood cells (WBCs) floating around in the blood stream. These WBCs are mobile and can attack almost anywhere they wish when they detect something is wrong. Unfortunately, the detection mechanism of WBCs is faulty when we have an autoimmune disorder.