Bagatelle trauma

A small, insignificant injury

Baker's cyst

Sagging of the knee-joint capsule into the hollow of the knee, named after the English surgeon, Baker

Balneophysical

Conservative types of treatment such as hydrotherapy massages, mud packs, electrotherapy

Basic therapeutic drugs

This is the name given to medicines that are most likely to combat the causes of a disease. They do not take immediate effect, but only after a few weeks and can heal polyarthritis or bring about a long-lasting improvement in the patient's condition. They are not pain-killers in the usual sense of the term

Bearing

In this context this means the bearing of an artificial joint

Bechterew's disease

(Morbus Bechterew) is a disease of the spine causing it to stiffen and is caused by a chronic inflammation of the ligaments of the spine

BfA

Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte (Federal Social Insurance Office for Salaried Employees in Germany)

Bi

Prefix meaning two, double

Bicondylar

Double-headed, double-surfaced as with a knee when both surfaces of the joint are replaced, i.e. both inside and outside (at the femur and at the shinbone)

Bio-compatible

Compatible with the living body, e.g. plastics and metals that can be implanted into the body

Biology

The science of life, science of living creatures

Bio-mechanics

The laws of mechanics as applied to the human body

BKK

Abbreviation for «Betriebskrankenkasse» (company health insurance fund); a statutory health insurance scheme in Germany

Bone cement

A rapidly hardening plastic on a plexiglass basis to used to anchor artificial joints in the bone. In a viscous state the bone cement penetrates into gaps und cavities in the bone and, after it has hardened, ensures that the implant is firmly anchored

Bone joint surge

Loss of tissue at bone surfaces near the joints; in an X-ray this is a typical sign of chronic polyarthritis

Bouchard's nodes

The name given to a bony enlargement on the upper side of a centre finger joint that has been altered due to arthrosis. This sometimes painful enlargement has nothing to do with polyarthritis (PcP)