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A joint is a structure where two or more bones meet and fit together. Other tissues within a joint include ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and synovial fluid. Joint problems arise when something goes wrong with any of these structures.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of joint conditions vary according to the specific problem. Pain is a common symptom and varies with the cause. It can feel sharp and severe or dull and achy. Other symptoms include stiffness, limited range of motion, and swelling and warmth over the joint. In fractures and dislocations, the joint may have a noticeable deformity.
Many joint conditions and injuries also affect the muscles. As a result, you may notice muscle aches, tenderness, or bruising.
Causes
Overuse injuries from repetitive motion are a common cause of problems like tendonitis and stress fractures. Overuse combined with age-related wear and tear on the joints can increase the risk of osteoarthritis.
Traumatic injuries (accidental or sports-related injuries) are the usual cause of acute injuries, such as broken bones, sprains, and dislocations.
Some conditions have precise causes. For example, gout occurs when uric acid crystal deposits form in the joint. People who develop gout either produce too much uric acid, or their body can’t flush it out as well.
Types
Common joint conditions and injuries include:
- Bursitis
- • Degenerative joint and bone diseases, such as osteoarthritis
- • Dislocations
- • Fractures and breaks
- • Gout, a kind of arthritis
- • Osteoporosis
- • Rheumatic disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis
- • Sprains and strains
- • Overuse injuries such as tendonitis
Risk factors
Joint injuries and diseases can be caused by a wide variety of scenarios, each of which has different risk factors. They may include:
- • Diagnosis of arthritis (including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis)
- • Gout
- • Previous joint injury, such as a sprain
- • Obesity or being overweight
- • Lack of muscular conditioning or physical fitness
- • Repetitive motion through sports, manual labor, your job, or hobbies
- • Age (joint injuries become more likely over time)
- • Poor form during activities
- • Overtraining or overextending/overexerting the body during activity
- • Not using proper safety equipment during activity
- • Engaging in high-impact sports or sports that require repetitive motion, such as football, skiing, soccer, wrestling, rock climbing, running, or tennis
Prevention
Preventing joint injuries involves reducing risk factors. Some steps you can take to protect your joints include:
- • Making sure you have proper training before engaging in an activity
- • Using all required safety gear and making sure it is correctly fitted
- • Stopping when you feel pain and avoiding “pushing through” an injury
- • Maintaining a healthy weight
- • Resting when needed and not overtraining
- • Using proper form when engaging in activities such as sports or weightlifting
- • Engaging in regular exercise to strengthen the muscles around and supporting your joints
- • Eating a healthy diet low in salt and sugar and high in vegetables, as recommended by your doctor
- • Avoiding activities that cause pain or adjusting your positioning or form to avoid straining your joints
- • Making sure you have the proper footwear to support your knees, hips, and other joints during activities like running and weightlifting
Diagnosis of common joint injuries and conditions
Most joint injuries are diagnosed using a combination of a physical exam, patient history, and imaging scans.
During an appointment, your doctor will evaluate your range of motion, look for signs of injury, and speak with you to determine whether your symptoms arose from an acute injury or gradually over time.
X-rays will provide a picture of the bones involved in the joint causing you pain. Other imaging tests like MRIs, CT scans, PET scans, and ultrasounds may also be used to look at your connective tissues like tendons, muscles, and ligaments.
Depending on the affected joint and your symptoms, your doctor may also use blood tests or tests of your joint fluid to screen for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disorders, infections, and gout.
Treatment
Your specific joint condition or injury will determine your treatment and prevention options. Your medical history, risk factors, and overall health will also play a role in your treatment plan.
Treatment for many joint injuries involves rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE) therapy, coupled with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications and pain relievers. With rest, many overuse and acute joint injuries will heal on their own. Your doctor may also recommend the use of a supportive brace or cast while your injury heals.
If these measures aren’t bringing relief, your doctor at Dignity Health may recommend physical therapy or joint injections of a corticosteroid. And sometimes, surgery is necessary to treat joint conditions and injuries.
Before surgery, physical therapy helps prevent common joint conditions and injuries. A physical therapist can help you maintain joint strength, flexibility, and range of motion. You can also benefit from learning proper body mechanics and strategies, including the use of protective gear and padding. These are particularly useful for people who play sports.
More severe conditions that arise as a result of other conditions, like infection, cancer, gout, or rheumatoid arthritis, may require more involved treatment such as chemotherapy, antibiotics, medications such as steroids or muscle relaxers, or dietary adjustments.
When to see a doctor for joint pain
While minor and infrequent joint pain is fairly common, some joint conditions are time sensitive, meaning that they require immediate treatment to preserve joint function and prevent serious complications.
It’s never a bad idea to ask your doctor for advice on how to protect your joints and keep them healthy.
In addition, joints can be fragile, so if you experience an injury (even if mild), it is often worth asking a doctor for advice to make sure you heal as quickly as possible.
If you notice any of the following along with joint pain, seek medical care right away:
- • Inability to move the joint, or severely reduced range of motion
- • Swelling, deformity, or a lopsided appearance (such as a joint that looks very different on one side of the body compared to the other)
- • Joint pain that gets worse over time or takes longer than three days to go away
- • You have multiple episodes of joint pain within the same month
- • You notice pain, swelling, or stiffness in your joints
- • Your joints are red or warm to the touch