Central symptoms of osteoarthritis are joint pain and increasing difficulty in moving the affected joint. Inflammation occurs repeatedly, manifested by increased pain, redness, hyperthermia and swelling (due to joint effusion). Later, deformities and nodular changes in the joint area also occur.
Pain as a symptom of osteoarthritis
There are three types of pain associated with osteoarthritis:
- Start-up or initial pain
- Fatigue or exertion pain
- Pain at rest
Below we present in more detail the typical forms of osteoarthritis symptoms.
Start-up or start pain in osteoarthritis.
If a joint is insufficiently lubricated and the joint cartilage is already partially degraded, the cartilage surfaces rub against each other worse. This causes pain at the beginning of a movement – this is called start-up pain or start-up pain.
Fatigue or strain pain
As the destruction of the cartilage layer progresses, pain develops in the joint due to the disturbed friction behavior of the roughened joint surfaces. The more the osteoarthritis progresses, the greater the pain under load. In medicine, this form of pain is called fatigue pain or strain pain.
Pain at rest as a symptom of osteoarthritis
Pain at rest occurs when there is already an inflammatory process going on in the joint. The body attempts to break down the tissue and cellular debris produced during joint destruction. To do this, enzymes are released that additionally attack the already damaged cartilage and cause an inflammatory reaction in the joint. This is referred to as “activated arthrosis“.
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Overview: symptoms of osteoarthritis
Various symptoms are associated with osteoarthritis:
- Decreasing joint mobility and pain.
- Start-up pain that disappears after a few movements
- Fatigue pain (that is, an increase in pain after prolonged exertion).
- Difficulty in performing joint movements “to the hilt”.
- Cracking or crunching in the joint
- Feeling of heat under stress
- Damp and cold weather increase the discomfort
- Swelling sensation without really visible swelling
- Cold feeling
