Osteoarthritis Condition Symptoms
- OA most commonly affects the knees, hands and hips but can also target your spine, feet, ankles and shoulders. When your joints are afflicted with OA, you will experience stiffness and swelling. You may find yourself moaning as you try to get up out of a chair. You may notice that you have lost your range of motion and can't reach as far as you used to or bend as easily. Your joints can become inflamed. Sometimes fragments of cartilage, as well as other tissue, can make your joints feel as though they are locked or stuck. As a result, you may hear a grinding sound, clicking, snapping or creaking.
- For some, OA is absolutely disabling, whereas it is only mildly problematic for others. Your pain will probably be at its worst in the morning when you get out of bed. Your entire body may feel achy. Some joints become so swollen that they are visible to the naked eye. If you engage in a physical activity, this may make your OA really flare up.
- The pain of OA is caused by the weakening of the muscles that surround the joint. This can be caused by being too sedentary and inactive. However, it's a Catch-22 because OA can make physical activity a less-than-desirable pursuit, yet you must keep moving or your stiffness will get worse. Typically, joint pain is at its worse in the morning and will taper off toward evening, according to 2arthritis.org.
- If OA has developed in your hips, you may have trouble walking and find yourself limping. You may experience inner thigh, buttock and groin pain. Sometimes the pain will go down your knee and into the side of your thigh, which is considered "referred" pain. You may find that your posture is getting worse and your coordination is becoming poor because of the limitations that the joint pain is foisting on your body.
- When OA settles in your spine, you may feel numbness or weakness in your legs and arms due to a pinched nerve. You may also feel pressure on the nerves in your spinal cord, which is your nerve being pinched. You can have pain in the shoulder, arm, lower legs and backs and in your neck when spinal OA is present. When the spinal discs break down, this can result in spiny overgrowths, which can contribute to your pain.
- When OA occurs in your knees, you may find that your large thigh muscles have become weak and that you experience pain when going up and down stairs. You may notice that your knee catches or grates when you are moving.
When OA strikes your fingers, you may discover that you can no longer wear your rings because your joints have become swollen and are painful. Joints can become enlarged, and you may notice tenderness and redness in your joints. You are no longer able to perform tasks that require use of your fingers, which can be frustrating. - If your feet are tender at the large joint located at the base of your big toe, this may indicate that you have OA in your feet.