Non-invasive optical methods offer several advantages over existing modalities. Optical contrast can be related to physiological parameters in the body, such as blood concentration and oxygenation. At relevant wavelengths and intensities, optical radiation is completely harmless. The cost of optical methods is low compared to other modalities. An important application, where optical methods can help diagnosis and treatment is detection of inflammation of joints in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Due to the highly scattering nature of tissue, non-invasive optical methods for medical imaging are limited to the extremities of the human body. For application in joint diseases, this is acceptable, because imaging of hands can provide sufficient clinical information.