JOINT PAIN

JOINT PAIN - Joint pain can range from mildly irritating to debilitating. It may go away after a few weeks (acute), or last for several weeks or months (chronic). Even short-term pain and swelling in the joints can affect your quality of life. Joint Pain is extremely common. In one national survey, about one-third of adults reported having joint pain within the past 30 days. Knee Pain was the most common complaint, followed by shoulder and hip pain, but joint pain can affect any part of your body, from your ankles and feet to your shoulders and hands. As you get older, painful joints become increasingly more common. Joint pain can be caused by injury affecting any of the ligaments, bursae, or tendons surrounding the joint. Injury can also affect the ligaments, cartilage, and bones within the joint.

Symptoms and signs associated with joint pain can include:

• joint swelling,
• joint tenderness,
• joint warmth,
• locking of the joint,
• loss of range of motion of the joint,
• stiffness,
• joint redness
• weakness
• limping

 Joint pain can be aggravated by motion, pressure, or weight-bearing resistance with activity. Joint pain can be associated with local warmth, swelling, and tenderness. Joint pain can be caused by injury or disease of the joint or adjacent tissues. A joint is the area at which two bone ends meet to provide motion to a body part. A typical joint is composed of bones that are separated by cartilage that serves as cushioning pad for the adjacent bones. Ligaments attach bone to bone around the joint. Bursae are fluid-filled sacs that provide a gliding surface for adjacent tendons. Tendons attach muscle to bone around the joint. Injury or disease to any of the structures of the joint can lead to pain in the joint. Joint pain is also referred to as arthralgia.