Why Do My Joints Hurt? Causes of Joint Pain & Pain Relief Options

As we age, joint pain becomes as common as the cold. Over 54 million Americans live with joint pain and arthritis day-in-and-day-out. Seemingly defeated, it’s as if millions have accepted that they will be living with joint pain for the rest of their lives. Desperate, many people turn to miracle ointments and prescription pills in search of joint pain relief. While effective at first, these remedies don’t seem to stick. As bleak it as it sounds, this doesn’t need to be your reality. However, in order to effectively treat joint pain you need to know what causes this condition in the first place. So, let’s take a deeper look into the causes of joint pain.

Before you read more, feel free to browse the rest of the Joint Pain catalog:

• Common Medications for Joint Pain
• Topical Agents for Joint Pain
• Injections for Joint Pain
• Physical Therapy for Joint Pain
• Alternative Treatments for Joint Pain

What Causes Joint Pain?

Joint pain itself isn’t exactly the real issue. There’s something else going on whenever you experience what we know as joint pain. It’s your body’s response to another issue. Our bodies are equipped with receptors everywhere. When inflammations pop up in areas of the body, it triggers a negative response within the receptor.

Neurons are sent from the receptor to the brain, carrying messages of “SOS!” Panicked, the brain releases stress signals into the system that you will feel as joint pain sensations. This is your body’s way of telling you something bad is brewing in that particular area.

Joint pain signifies an underlying condition. These conditions depend on where the pain is located and how your body is reacting. Let’s take a look at the most common causes of joint pain.

Avacsular Necrosis

This condition is inflammation caused by the death of bone tissue. In cases of avascular necrosis, the bone tissue typically dies due to a lack of blood supply. With the dead bone tissues lying stagnant, it’s nutrient-deficient deadweight breaks down bones, leading to an eventual collapse.

Those who suffer from avascular necrosis have trouble putting weight on the infected joints. Typically, the joint pain associated with avascular necrosis transpires in areas such as:

• Butt
• Foot
• Groin
• Hand
• Hip
• Knee
• Shoulder
• Thigh

Avascular necrosis is typically a result of injury. These incidents may include:

• Breaking a Bone
• Dislocating a Joint
• Spraining Ligaments
• Straining Tendons

While physical trauma is the number one cause of this condition, prolonged steroid use and alcoholism may also trigger avascular necrosis.

Bone Cancer

While no condition that causes joint pain is a picnic, bone cancer is one of those worst case scenarios because it’s so rare. This condition only accounts for 1% of all cancers.

Bone cancer can happen on any bone. However, it is most prevalent around the pelvis and appendages. Depending where the cancer lives on the body, the bones can be removed surgically or treated with chemo and radiation.

Fibromyalgia

This condition is one of the tricker causes of joint pain. Fibromyalgia affects the mind and actually amplifies the pain sensations that your brain gives off.

Due to fibromyalgia, not only do you suffer from joint pain but can also show symptoms such as:

• Anxiety
• Brain Fog
• Daytime Fatigue
• Depression
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Lockjaw (TMJ)
• Memory Loss
• Mood Swings
• Tension Headaches

If you experience a dull pain in the same area for over three months, you may have fibromyalgia. Be sure to consult a physician for a proper diagnosis.

Gout

This is a very common form of arthritis. Gout is classified as sudden and severe bouts of pain and redness, typically at the base of the big toe joint. Your body develops gout when there is too much uric acid in your bloodstream. The excess acid gets expelled and ends up in empty pockets surrounding joints.

Gout can strike anywhere and at any time, especially in the middle of the night. Set off by something as light as a bedsheet, gout can bring moments of intense heat to your tender toe. As gout gets worse, you may lose range of motion in your appendage.

Lyme Disease

Deer ticks have been getting a lot of media attention as of late as cases of Lyme Disease continues to grow. Lyme disease is a result of the saliva from these insects having an adverse reaction to your chemical makeup after the tick bites you.

There are four species of bacteria that are the leading causes of this condition:

• Borreila burgdorferi (United States)
• Borrelia mayonii (United States)
• Borrelia azfzelii (Europe/Asia)
• Borrelia garinii (Europe/Asia)

60% of people with Lyme Disease will suffer from arthritis in thanks to the aforementioned bacteria. These bacteria feed on the tissues, causing inflammation to spur in the areas. People with Lyme Disease tend to suffer from knee joint pain the most.

Osteoarthritis

This is the most common form of arthritis and is a result of worn-out cartilage. Cartilage is what acts a trampoline between our bones, stopping them from butting up against each other. The purpose of cartilage is to protect the joints from experiencing pain.

Anything from running everyday to being overweight can destroy this protection. Overtime, our cartilage gives in to everyday wear-and-tear. Eventually, bone-on-bone contact happens, spurring osteoarthritis.

While arthritis pain relief does work on osteoarthritis, the condition is irreversible. The damage is already done. All you can do to combat osteoarthritis is treat the joint pain.

Psoriatic Arthritis

This is a double dose of inflammation. First, psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease where red patches of flaky skin appear at affected areas. As the condition worsens, many may start to feel joint pain in the broken out areas.

While the pain typically happens in crevices like the fingers and toes, you can also feel the surges of pain in your spine. So while there is no cure, be sure to seek treatment for this condition. Finding the right arthritis pain relief is essential or psoriatic arthritis may become disabling.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

This is the second most common form of arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder. With rheumatoid arthritis, your own cells are attacking other healthy cells in your system. As a response to the destruction, your body sends out pain sensations to the area under attack.

Whereas osteoarthritis is a result of wear-and-tear to cartilage, rheumatoid arthritis attacks your joints’ lining. This makes for even more painful swelling that may lead to permanently deformed joints or bone erosion.

Seeing as rheumatoid is an autoimmune disease, it also attacks parts of the body not related to your joints. You may experience pain and loss of function in the following areas if you are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis:

• Blood vessels
• Bone marrow
• Eyes
• Heart
• Kidneys
• Lungs
• Nerve Tissue
• Salivary Glands

If you believe you have rheumatoid arthritis, please seek professional help immediately.

Septic Arthritis

As the name suggests, this form of arthritis is caused by foreign germs penetrating the system. These antibodies enter the bloodstream and end up dispelled into a joint. From there, they set up shop and cause inflammations. As we’ve established, inflammation is at the top of joint pain causes.

Septic arthritis is most common in the elderly and infants as they are less likely to keep up their hygienic standards. The areas that most experience joint pain thanks to septic arthritis are the knees, followed by hips and shoulders.

If diagnosed with this condition, you want to get a septic arthritis treatment immediately. These toxins can destroy cartilage and bones, causing a lifetime of joint pain.

Tendonitis

This condition is an inflammation of the tendon. Tendons are thick, fibrous cords that act as a bridge from the bone to muscle. When you suffer from tendonitis, you will feel pain just outside of the joint.

Tendonitis is commonly caused by sports. Therefore this condition goes by many nicknames such as:

• Golfer’s Elbow
• Tennis Elbow
• Pitcher’s Shoulder
• Swimmer’s Shoulder
• Jumper’s Knee

Rest and physical therapy should be the most effective joint pain treatment for tendonitis. However, if you rupture the tendon, you will need to get surgery.

Other Causes of Joint Pain

While we touched on the most common causes of joint pain, there are many more. They include:

• Adult Still’s Disease
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Bursitis
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
• Gonococcal Arthritis
• Hypothyroidism
• Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
• Leukemia
• Lupus
• Osteomyelitis
• Paget’s Disease
• Polymyalgia Rheumatica
• Pseudogout
• Reactive Arthritis
• Rheumatic Fever
• Rickets
• Sarcoidosis

Now that you know the common causes of joint pain, let’s take a look at the most Common Medications for Joint Pain.