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Arthralgie
One joint or many, warm or cold, morning or evening — that places the cause.
Also known as: joint pain · arthralgia · aching joints
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Joint pain is common and has many causes. The most frequent is wear (osteoarthritis): pain on use that eases with rest, often in the knee, hip or fingers. Inflammation (arthritis) instead tends to cause morning stiffness, swelling and warmth; behind it can be rheumatism (autoimmune), gout (a single, suddenly very painful, red joint — often the big toe) or an infection. Overuse, injuries and some viral infections also cause joint pain. To place it: one joint or several? With swelling and morning stiffness or without? A hot, very swollen joint with fever should be assessed quickly.
A sudden, two-sided pain in shoulders and hips with long morning stiffness is a picture of its own with markedly raised inflammatory values — and a treatment that works within days.
If aching joints and tiredness join a rash with wheals that stay put for more than a day, complement C3 and C4 should be measured. This combination has a name of its own and a workup of its own.
One or several joints, morning stiffness, swelling — this narrows the cause.
Regular gentle activity, strengthening and a healthy weight help most.
If rheumatism or gout is suspected, investigate and treat early.
This combination needs prompt medical assessment.
Anti-inflammatories work at the joint if there really is inflammation — with wear and no inflammation the difference from paracetamol is small. As a gel on the skin they reach superficial joints such as knee and fingers and burden stomach and kidney far less. A cortisone injection works for six to twelve weeks; more than three to four a year in the same joint harms the cartilage. No drug rebuilds cartilage.
The number of joints and the time separate the causes: one joint acutely points to infection, gout or injury; several small joints on both sides over six weeks to an inflammatory disease; a few large joints over years to wear. Morning stiffness over thirty to sixty minutes points to inflammation. About one in four adults has joint pain at times, about one in two from sixty-five.
The most common type, usually knee, hip or fingers.
Suggests inflammatory rheumatism — should be assessed.
An acute, very painful gout attack often hits the big toe.
A hot, swollen joint with fever can be an infection — don’t wait.
Raised in inflammatory joint disease — helps tell osteoarthritis from arthritis.
Without vitamin D only a fraction of the calcium from food is taken up. It is the value that is most often too low with bone and joint complaints.
The building material itself. Better from food than from a tin: hard cheese, yoghurt, calcium-rich mineral water, almonds, broccoli and fortified plant drinks.
Activates the proteins that build calcium into bone. Green leafy vegetables and fermented foods cover it — under coumarin blood thinning the amount stays steady rather than swinging.
Bone is a third protein scaffold, and the muscles that hold it need protein too. In older people too little protein is more common than too little calcium.
Needed for building calcium in and for vitamin D to work. A lack slows both — even when calcium and vitamin D are supplied in sufficient amounts.
The best-selling joint remedy and the longest-debated. The large independent studies at 1500 mg a day over 2 years found no difference from placebo; the manufacturer-funded ones did. Anyone trying it gives it 3 months and then decides.
For knee osteoarthritis compared with painkillers in several studies and similarly effective — 500–1000 mg a day over 8–12 weeks. The studies are mostly small; with gallstones and on blood thinners it is not harmless.
10 g a day over 3–6 months showed small improvements in joint pain in studies. Swallowed, it is broken into amino acids like any other protein — the described effect comes from signal fragments, not from collagen travelling into the joint.
A pronounced deficiency causes diffuse bone and muscle pain that gets read as joint pain. Measured beforehand; 20–50 µg (800–2000 IU) a day is the usual frame.
Effective when deficient; effects on sleep and stress plausible but moderate. Too much causes loose stool.
An underactive thyroid causes joint and muscle pain with stiffness — without a joint being inflamed. It is one of the values with the best ratio of effort to answer.
Joint pain is among the most common and least known complaints of menopause — in more than half of women. It is mostly symmetrical, worst in the morning, and is often taken for beginning rheumatism.
An overactive parathyroid causes diffuse bone and joint pain, tiredness and constipation. A single calcium value settles it — and it is missed for years because nobody looks for it.
In inflammatory joint complaints studies with 2–3 g EPA and DHA a day found less morning stiffness and less painkiller use after 3 months. Through food this amount is hard to reach — two fish meals a week are well below it.
Every kilo less takes about three to four times that load off the knee when walking. Losing 5 kg therefore noticeably eases every step.
The plant forerunner of acetylsalicylic acid — with the same reservations for stomach and clotting.
Willow bark is the plant forerunner of acetylsalicylic acid — with the same reservations for stomach and clotting.
Effective because of its salicylate content and, for the same reason, not suitable for everyone.
The master of the sinews — the standard point for muscle and tendon pain.