Exploring Causes of Joint Pain

Joint pain, also known as Arthralgia, affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. As you can likely guess, the most common causes of joint pain involve arthritis. Arthritis has more varieties than any other disease. At present time there are over one hundred different varieties of arthritis.

This obviously puts arthritis at the top of the list. Some of the symptoms of arthritis are Stiffness of a joint after a period of rest. Such as when getting out of bed in the morning or standing up after watching a movie. A crunching feeling, or the sound of bone rubbing on bone is another indication, as is swelling and or tenderness in one or more joints.

Unfortunately there is no single test to determine if you have osteoarthritis, but your health care professional will likely use a combination of tests to diagnose osteoarthritis. It is sort of a process of elimination, as well as diagnosing. What happens with osteoarthritis is that the cartilage in the joint begins to break down, and then continues to disintegrate, until there is no cushioning of the bones in the joint at all.

Degenerative arthritis is just another name for osteoarthritis, it stems from the fact that the cause of osteoarthritis is the cartilage disintegrating, hence the degenerative label. They refer to it as Primary osteoarthritis when, as in most cases, the cause of the arthritis is unknown. Otherwise they will refer to it as Secondary osteoarthritis.

Secondary osteoarthritis is the result of either another disease, or another underlying condition. The most common contributing factors are infection, diabetes, obesity, repeated injury, and or surgery to the joint. Another factor that may contribute to secondary osteoarthritis is if you had abnormal joints at birth. This is commonly referred to as congenital abnormalities.

Rheumatoid arthritis is another form of arthritis that many people suffer from. This form of arthritis can affect other organs of the body other than just the joints. This is apparently because it is a rheumatic disease. A rheumatologist, is a doctor who either has specialized training, or lots of experience in dealing with arthritis.

Osteonecrosis causes painful joints, because it affects the bones in the joint. It can affect bones in areas other than in joints as well. The blood flow is either restricted, or cut off completely, and therefore can't supply oxygen to the bones. Once this happens the bone begins to die, and eventually, depending on time and other factors will collapse. Other common names for osteonecrosis are avascular necrosis, and aseptic necrosis.

Bursitis affects people in a wide range of age groups. In our body we have what you call a bursa, or in plural bursae. We have 160 of these in our bodies, and they are largely found in the area of joints. A bursa is basically a fluid-filled sac, normally tiny, whose main purpose is to reduce friction between tissues in the body. When this bursa becomes inflamed, this is what they call bursitis. If infection is ruled out as a cause, in other words if you don't have infectious bursitis the most common types of treatment will include rest, ice compresses, and medications for pain, and also as an anti-inflammatory treatment.

Joint pain, also known as Arthralgia, affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. As you can likely guess, the most common causes of joint pain involve arthritis. Arthritis has more varieties than any other disease. At present time there are over one hundred different varieties of arthritis.

This obviously puts arthritis at the top of the list. Some of the symptoms of arthritis are Stiffness of a joint after a period of rest. Such as when getting out of bed in the morning or standing up after watching a movie. A crunching feeling, or the sound of bone rubbing on bone is another indication, as is swelling and or tenderness in one or more joints.

Unfortunately there is no single test to determine if you have osteoarthritis, but your health care professional will likely use a combination of tests to diagnose osteoarthritis. It is sort of a process of elimination, as well as diagnosing. What happens with osteoarthritis is that the cartilage in the joint begins to break down, and then continues to disintegrate, until there is no cushioning of the bones in the joint at all.

Degenerative arthritis is just another name for osteoarthritis, it stems from the fact that the cause of osteoarthritis is the cartilage disintegrating, hence the degenerative label. They refer to it as Primary osteoarthritis when, as in most cases, the cause of the arthritis is unknown. Otherwise they will refer to it as Secondary osteoarthritis.

Secondary osteoarthritis is the result of either another disease, or another underlying condition. The most common contributing factors are infection, diabetes, obesity, repeated injury, and or surgery to the joint. Another factor that may contribute to secondary osteoarthritis is if you had abnormal joints at birth. This is commonly referred to as congenital abnormalities.

Rheumatoid arthritis is another form of arthritis that many people suffer from. This form of arthritis can affect other organs of the body other than just the joints. This is apparently because it is a rheumatic disease. A rheumatologist, is a doctor who either has specialized training, or lots of experience in dealing with arthritis.

Osteonecrosis causes joint pain, because it affects the bones in the joint. It can affect bones in areas other than in joints as well. The blood flow is either restricted, or cut off completely, and therefore can't supply oxygen to the bones. Once this happens the bone begins to die, and eventually, depending on time and other factors will collapse. Other common names for osteonecrosis are avascular necrosis, and aseptic necrosis.

Bursitis affects people in a wide range of age groups. In our body we have what you call a bursa, or in plural bursae. We have 160 of these in our bodies, and they are largely found in the area of joints. A bursa is basically a fluid-filled sac, normally tiny, whose main purpose is to reduce friction between tissues in the body. When this bursa becomes inflamed, this is what they call bursitis. If infection is ruled out as a cause, in other words if you don't have infectious bursitis the most common types of treatment will include rest, ice compresses, and medications for pain, and also as an anti-inflammatory treatment.