The symptoms of joint diseases can range from mild pain and inflammation to a complete inability to use the joint. Joint diseases
The symptoms of joint diseases can range from mild pain and inflammation to a complete inability to use the joint. Joint diseases may affect the bones or the surrounding soft tissues, and are often associated with pain and stiffness.
If you experience pain in your joints, chances are high that you have a joint condition. This guide will help you identify these symptoms, explore the causes, and learn how to treat and recover from such injuries.
What Are the Most Common Joint Diseases?
Understanding the causes of your joint pain may be the first step towards managing your condition and even relieving pain and other symptoms, as you can access the right treatment once you know the cause.
Here are the six most common diseases that can cause joint pain:
1. Osteoarthritis
Causes:
- Excessive body weight
- Overuse of the joint
- Direct impact on the joint
- Family history
- Aging
Symptoms:
- Joint stiffness
- Joint pain and tenderness during or after movement
- Swelling
- Sensations of grating, cracking, or popping in the joint
Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease and the most common type of arthritis. It occurs when the cartilage between two joints starts to wear down, which causes the bony surfaces of the joint to rub against each other. It often affects multiple joints.
Osteoarthritis is common in old age. Some people experience it at earlier ages, because of factors like injuries, obesity, or genetics.
For a person who lives to an average life expectancy, it’s unlikely that they’ll avoid osteoarthritis entirely, as it’s a normal part of aging. However, it is possible to delay the onset of this condition by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. That includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, protecting joints in contact sports, and controlling weight and blood sugar.
2. Bursitis
Causes:
- Injury to the affected joint
- Overuse
- Infection
Symptoms:
- Pain while moving or applying pressure over the affected joint
- Swelling and redness
- Dull aching pain without stimulation, often associated with stiffness
Bursitis is an inflammatory joint disease. It occurs when a bursa becomes inflamed. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that acts as a cushion for tissues near a joint, like muscles and tendons. Inflammation of a bursa causes lingering pain that increases upon using the joint.
Bursitis most commonly affects the elbows, shoulders, and hips, but it can also affect other areas, including the knees, heels, and even the base of the big toe.
Unlike osteoarthritis, bursitis isn’t considered to be a normal part of aging. Fortunately, there is effective treatment available. In most cases, this involves resting the painful joint until the inflammation subsides (typically within a few weeks).
You can prevent bursitis by avoiding excessive pressure on your joints. If your job includes strenuous physical effort, stretching before you begin and taking breaks in between sessions of work can reduce the risk.
3. Lupus
Causes:
- Genetics
- Immune system problems
- Environmental causes, like sunlight, smoking, medications, and viral infections
Symptoms:
- Painful and swollen joints
- Stiffness after waking up
- Swollen joints
Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system malfunctions and attacks the body’s own cells.
This causes a variety of physical manifestations, including swollen, painful, and stiff joints. It may also be associated with other symptoms throughout the body, including fever, rashes, ulcers, and swollen lymph nodes (“swollen glands”).
A healthy immune system does not attack the body’s own tissues. While it’s not exactly clear why the immune system mistakenly does so in some people and not in others, there are certain factors that make it more likely to occur. Kidney damage, heart problems, blood clots, and constant inflammation are all predisposing factors for lupus.
Research has yet to find a complete cure for lupus. However, the right medications can reduce the flares and organ damage and improve the overall quality of life.
The medications may include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, and immunosuppressants.
4. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Causes:
- Swelling and inflammation of the wrist
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Pressure on the median nerve
Symptoms:
- Tingling and numbness in the middle part of the palm and fingers
- An occasional electric shock-like feeling
- Weakness in the hand grip, which may lead to dropping objects
Carpal tunnel syndrome is among the most common joint diseases. There’s a narrow pathway inside the wrist called the carpal tunnel, which is the pathway of a nerve called the median nerve.
When the carpal tunnel becomes narrowed, this compresses the nerve, resulting in weakness, numbness, and an unpleasant tingling sensation.
This narrowing may result from inflammatory conditions, medications, anatomical factors, changes in body fluid status, or obesity.
Treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome may involve wrist splinting, NSAIDs, and steroids. In some cases, surgical intervention may be needed to alleviate the condition.
You can reduce your risk of this condition by avoiding the risk factors. This involves paying attention to your wrist position during hand-intensive tasks (like typing), taking frequent short breaks while performing such tasks, losing weight if you’re overweight, and stretching your wrists regularly.
5. Dislocations
Causes:
- Falls
- Vehicle accidents
- Sports injuries
Symptoms:
- Visible deformation of the joint
- Limited ability to move
- Joint and muscle pain that occurs at rest and increases upon trying to move
- Joint inflammation, numbness, and swelling
Dislocations occur when a joint gets knocked or pushed out of its position. A dislocation is technically considered to be an injury rather than a disease, but we decided to include dislocations in this list because of how common they are.
Dislocations are often associated with intense pain. It’s usually difficult or even impossible to move the affected joint.
A dislocation occurs due to strong trauma to the affected joint or forceful and awkward joint movements. Examples of potential activities that could cause a dislocation include dancing, performing gymnastics, or suddenly stopping or changing direction while running.
A dislocation may or may not be associated with injury of other tissues surrounding the joint, including muscles, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels.
Dislocations are common in fingers, jaws, hips, knees, shoulders, and elbows. In a complete dislocation, also known as luxation, the joint surfaces that should be in contact are completely separated from each other. In an incomplete dislocation, also known as subluxation, the joint surfaces are only partly separated, but some portion is still in contact.
A dislocation is generally treated by repositioning the joint back to its usual position. This is called closed reduction, and is often done by a qualified healthcare professional under local anesthesia to minimize the pain. Note that, unless extremely necessary, you should never attempt to perform closed reduction on your own.
In some cases, surgery may be needed to reposition the joint. This is known as open reduction. This may be needed if closed reduction doesn’t succeed, and is more commonly necessary if a patient doesn’t seek medical care until several weeks after the injury.
6. Tendonitis
Causes:
- Overusing the joint
- A sudden movement of the joint, particularly when it’s held at an awkward angle
- Injury or trauma to the joint
Symptoms:
- Pain and stiffness
- Difficulty moving the affected joint
- Swelling
- A cracking or a popping sensation on moving the joint
Tendonitis (sometimes spelled as tendinitis; both spellings are considered to be correct) is inflammation of a tendon. Tendons are the bands of connective tissue that connect muscles to bones.
There are many different specific types of tendonitis. Some of these are familiar to many people, including golfer’s elbow, tennis elbow, runner’s knee, swimmer’s shoulder, and pitcher’s shoulder.
Tendonitis is a fairly common condition, particularly in those who perform a job or hobby that involves repetitive use of a particular joint.
Tendonitis is treated by resting the affected joint, applying ice packs, and taking anti-inflammatory medications. If the condition doesn’t improve after three weeks, inform your healthcare provider. They may prescribe additional treatment, such as corticosteroids (strong anti-inflammatory medications) and physical therapy.
You can reduce your risk of tendonitis by allowing time for recovery after joint-intensive activities and maintaining a healthy diet.
Joint Recovery Is Mandatory
Allowing your joints to recover after an intensive activity, injury, or joint disease is an underrated practice. Good recovery can reduce the risk of injury or prevent it altogether, and can also hasten the healing time after an injury.
Recovery isn’t just about resting your joint; it’s about increasing the blood supply to the joint so it can get all the required nutrients you ingest from healthy food.
You can actively do that by massaging the affected joint or applying warm packs. You may also do that passively using recovery wear, like the ones we offer here at Thermo Recovery Wear.
Infused with bamboo charcoal, our recovery wear uses the heat your body produces to release healing elements deep into your skin to improve blood supply. They have been found to relieve chronic pain associated with joint conditions (like those mentioned in this list) by over 60%.
Sources
- Median Nerve | Cleveland Clinic
- Osteoarthritis | Mayo Clinic
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome | Mayo Clinic
- Joint Dislocation | Penn Medicine
- Dislocation | Cleveland Clinic
- Tendonitis | Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Bursitis | Mayo Clinic
- Lupus Erythematosus | Medicine Plus
- Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs | NHS
- Rheumatoid Arthritis | NHS
