Rheumatology with Sanitas
If both hands are stiff and sore every morning, you want a rheumatologist rather than an orthopaedic surgeon. People routinely book the wrong one and lose weeks finding out.
Rheumatology or orthopaedics? The distinction that saves time
People with joint pain routinely book the wrong specialist and lose weeks.
Orthopaedics is mechanical. Something is worn, torn or broken. One joint, usually, and often after an injury or years of use. The answer is frequently surgical.
Rheumatology is inflammatory. The immune system is attacking the joints. Several joints, often symmetrical, worse in the morning, with stiffness that eases as you move. The answer is medication, not surgery.
A rough rule: one bad knee after years of tennis is orthopaedics. Both hands stiff and sore every morning for an hour is rheumatology.
What rheumatologists treat
Rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear kind, when it needs medical rather than surgical management. Gout, which is more common than people admit and very treatable. Lupus. Psoriatic arthritis. Fibromyalgia. Polymyalgia rheumatica, which hits over-60s with sudden severe shoulder and hip stiffness and responds dramatically to treatment. Osteoporosis, shared with endocrinology.
Why speed matters here
With inflammatory arthritis, the joint damage happens early and does not reverse. Getting onto the right medication in the first months genuinely changes how your hands work in ten years' time. It is one of the clearest cases where skipping a public waiting list is worth real money.
If your fingers or toes have been stiff and swollen for more than six weeks, particularly in the morning, do not wait to see whether it settles.
Waiting periods
None on consultations or standard blood tests, which is what diagnosis mostly rests on. Complex scans carry 6 months.
See every Sanitas waiting period in one place, including how switching from another insurer waives nearly all of them.
Where the rheumatologists are
319 clinics across 42 provinces, with 313 named specialists between them – and you can book any of them yourself, without a referral.
- Barcelona – 56 clinics, 53 specialists
- Madrid – 53 clinics, 53 specialists
- Cadiz – 16 clinics, 9 specialists
- A Coruna – 12 clinics, 11 specialists
- Seville – 11 clinics, 19 specialists
- Valencia – 10 clinics, 12 specialists
Eight provinces have none, so this is one to check before assuming there is someone nearby.
Ask us and we will check who is near you and what languages they work in.
What you pay
Nothing on a no-co-payment plan. A fixed amount per visit on a co-payment plan, and since these conditions need regular review, expect several visits a year. Medication is not covered without the pharmacy add-on.
Find a rheumatologist near you
Browse rheumatologists in the Sanitas directory – by province, with addresses, phone numbers and a map.
