Please consult your healthcare provider if you have any joint complaints.
Joint pain is a very common complaint, due to various causes. Common reasons for joint pain are osteoarthritis and injury.
In older adults, joint pain, which gets steadily worse maybe due to osteoarthritis.The knee joint is probably the most frequently damaged joint and is particularly vulnerable as it takes the full weight of your body.
But knee pain is not always a joint problem. Please consult your healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment.
Inflammation of the lining of the joints:
After the recent joint injury, if the joint gets painful again, the thin layer of tissue lining the joints and tendons may be inflamed, a condition called traumatic synovitis.
It usually does not cause any redness or heat.
You should be able to manage injury-related swelling at home with NSAID's, such as ibuprofen, an icepack and rest.
Gout or pseudogout:
If the skin over the joint is hot and red, and the pain comes in repeated attacks, the cause is likely to be either gout or pseudogout.
Both of these are types of arthritis.
Gout usually affects the joint of the big toe first before affecting other joints.
It's important to correctly diagnose gout, as treatment will prevent future attacks of joint pain and disability.
Pseudogout is similar to gout, but usually affects the knee joint first.
Consult your healthcare provider if you think you have gout or pseudogout.
Damage to the cartilage behind the knee:
Knee pain that feels worse when you go up or down stairs could be a sign of a damaged kneecap, called chondromalacia patellae.
This should not cause any redness or heat around the knee.
The cause is not understood, but it can be linked to overuse of the knee.
You can treat this problem yourself with NSAID's, such as ibuprofen, an icepack and rest.
Bleeding into the joint space:
If you have recently had an injury to the knee joint, such as a torn ligament or knee fracture, it may cause bleeding into the joint spaces. This is known as haemarthrosis.
This is more likely to happen if you take blood thinners like warfarin
Signs of Blood in the joint
Swelling of the knee.
Warmth
Stiffness, bruising after injury.
You should get immediate medical attention.
Other less common causes are
Fracture: Usually after trauma, although it can occur easily in patients with osteoporosis or other health conditions.
Reactive arthritis: develops after an infection and commonly affects young adults.
Psoriatic arthritis: joint get affected in patients with psoriasis.
Rheumatoid arthritis: autoimmune condition, which can start in one joint. The pain comes and goes.
Osgood Schlatter's disease: Discomfort and swelling over the bony bump beneath the knee cap.
Infection in the joint: serious condition, get immediate medical attention.
Bleeding disorders: patients can bleed in the joints.
Cancer
Crumbling of the bones.
Dislocation of the joint
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a type of arthritis that causes pain and swelling in the joints, usually the hands, feet and wrists.
The pain may come and go in the early stages, with long periods between attacks.
It can make you feel generally unwell and tired.
Psoriatic arthritis.
Psoriatic arthritis affects up to 1 in 5 people with Psoriasis
This type of arthritis is unpredictable, but flare-ups can usually be controlled with treatment.
Like other types of arthritis, it means that 1 or more of your joints are inflamed and become swollen, stiff, painful and difficult to move.
Joint pain after infection:
Examples of viral infections that can cause pain in the joints and symptoms of a fever include:
Viral hepatitis.
Rubella
Connective tissue diseases.
Widespread joint pain is sometimes a sign of a disease that affects almost all the organs of the body, such as:
Lupus: Autoimmune disease
Scleroderma
Other less common conditions:
Widespread joint pain can less commonly be caused by:
Rarer type of arthritis – such as Ankylosing spondylitis, juvenile arthritis, reactive arthritis
Bechets syndrome – a rare and poorly understood condition that causes inflammation of the blood vessels
Henoch-Schonlein purpura: Condition usually seen in children, that causes blood vessels to become inflamed.
Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy: Affects the fingers, seen in patients with lung cancer.
Sarcoidosis: causes small patches of tissue to develop in the audience.
Medications: like steroids, hydralazine, isoniazid
Osteoarthritis of the fingers with nodules on the fingers.
Swelling and redness of the right foot from gout
Rheumatoid arthritis of the hands with swelling of the knuckles and extensive deformities
