In 1978, the World Health Organization defined rheumatic diseases as “Diseases of the connective tissue and painful disorders of the locomotor system, all of which can lead to the development of chronic symptoms.” The path leading to this definition goes all the way back to classical antiquity. In the 5th century BCE, Empedocles already used the Greek word rheúma (stream, flow) for “streams” within the body and the diseases they caused. The Hippoc…