Everyone experiences aches and pains through life, even at a young age. With minor trauma or stress, it may be easier to decide if your pain is related to a pulled muscle or injury.
Painful chronic conditions like arthritis may be harder to recognize.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, arthritis affects nearly 60 million adults and 300,000 children, and more commonly, women and older adults.
Learning about the different ways arthritis causes pain can help you better manage the disease.
The literal meaning of arthritis is swelling. Swelling can occur in large joints like knees or small joints found in the toes or fingers. The swelling occurs when too much synovial fluid accumulates in the joint.
Other general symptoms include:
This affects large and small joints, causing sore and stiff joints especially in the morning. Also called degenerative arthritis, this disease occurs when the cushioned surface of a bone wears out, leading to pain from a bone rubbing against a bone.
A distinctive symptom is symmetry. This means if your left thumb is swollen, you’ll likely have the same swelling in the right thumb as well. This disease can also progress to the point that it affects the whole body, causing fever, chest pain and shortness of breath.
With inflammatory arthritis, other parts of the body like eyes and internal organs can become damaged. Pain like with Gout can occur in the joints and feel intermittent with each “attack”.
An autoimmune condition, this arthritis can also cause rashes, eye redness, and changes to nails.
If you’re concerned about arthritis pain or have more questions, talk with your CenterWell primary care doctor.
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