Complete examination is essential: particular attention to skin, mucous membranes, nails (may reveal characteristic pitting in psoriasis), eyes. Careful and thorough examination of involved and uninvolved joints and periarticular structures; this should proceed in an organized fashion from head to foot or from extremities inward toward axial skeleton; special attention should be paid to identifying the presence or absence of:

• Warmth and/or erythema
• Swelling
• Synovial thickening
• Subluxation, dislocation, joint deformity
• Joint instability
• Limitations to active and passive range of motion
• Crepitus
• Periarticular changes
• Muscular changes including weakness, atrophy