What Are the Symptoms of Arthritis?

People joke about having aches and pains as they get older as it’s a fun way to joke about aging. But joint pain—especially arthritis—should be taken seriously. Arthritis is, simply put, a disease that causes damage to your joints. There are many different types of arthritis, so it’s important to know the differences, the symptoms, and ways to treat the pain it causes. Let’s dig into it.

Believe it or not, there are more than 100 types of arthritis. But to narrow it down, we’ll talk about a few common types.

This is the most common type of arthritis, affecting approximately 32.5 million adults. Also called wear and tear arthritis, osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage that cushions your joints wears down over time. Some symptoms of osteoarthritis are pain, stiffness in the joints (most common right when you wake up or if you’ve been inactive/sitting for long periods of time), joint tenderness, loss of flexibility, grating sensation, bone spurs (extra bits of bone that feel like hard lumps around your joints), and swelling. 

This type of arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder—meaning it attacks your own body’s tissue. Unlike osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of your joints, causing painful swelling, and eventually bone erosion and joint deformity. Some symptoms of RA include tender, warm, and swollen joints, joint stiffness, fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. This type of arthritis affects your smaller joints first, especially those around your fingers, hands, toes, and feet. It’s also important to note that RA can affect more than just your bones and joints—approximately 40% of those affected by RA reported issues in their skin, eyes, lungs, heart, kidneys, salivary glands, nerve tissue, bone marrow, and blood vessels.

This is a type of inflammatory arthritis that occurs when there is a buildup of uric acid in your body. When this happens, uric acid crystals will form around a joint—most commonly your big toe—and cause pain, swelling, and tenderness. Our bodies naturally produce uric acid when it filters out chemicals called purines—found in some food and drinks—and it is filtered out through our kidneys. However, sometimes our bodies produce too much uric acid or our kidneys don’t filter it out quick enough—that’s when a buildup happens and can cause gout (though it’s important to note that just because you have high uric acid in your body does not automatically mean you will develop gout). Some symptoms of gout include intense pain, discoloration or redness, stiffness, swelling, tenderness (even to light touch, like a sheet or blanket), and warmth.

This type of arthritis affects those who have psoriasis. The symptoms are similar to those of rheumatoid arthritis, but in addition to the common symptoms, psoriatic arthritis is also likely to cause swollen fingers and toes, foot pain, lower back pain, nail changes, and eye inflammation.

This type of arthritis affects adolescents younger than 16. It is also known as pediatric rheumatic disease. Common symptoms of JA are pain, swelling, stiffness, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a rash. 

While there are medications to treat arthritis, there are also some natural remedies for treating joint and arthritis pain! Let’s look at a few:

Especially if you struggle with being overweight, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is a great way to relieve your joints of some extra pressure. Additionally, staying active—regardless of your weight—is beneficial to keep your joints flexible and mobile, and strengthen the muscles around your joints. Some low-impact exercises you can do to support your joint health are walking, cycling, and swimming. 

Traditionally, heat therapy relieves stiffness and cold therapy relieves swelling and inflammation. Heat therapy can be simple and at-home, like a heated blanket, or more involved like sauna bathing. Cold therapy can range from ice packs to cold plunges! There’s a lot of variety in this type of pain relief, so it’s more customizable to your needs and lifestyle. 

So much of our health (or not) comes from the food we eat. When you’re dealing with an inflammatory condition like arthritis, maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet is key. There are so many foods that are beneficial when it comes to fighting inflammation. Similarly, there are quite a few foods that contribute to that inflammation. Some foods to minimize are: high amounts of sugar, refined carbs, trans fats, and alcohol. You can also add a joint pain supplement to get even more anti inflammatory compounds into your diet.

Arthritis can be painful and impact your everyday life. But it doesn’t have to control it. Through an active lifestyle, hot/cold therapies, and an anti-inflammatory diet, you can manage the symptoms and side effects of arthritis for long-term benefits. It’s also a good idea to invest in a good joint supplement, like Joint Health PLUS®. It’s jam-packed with ingredients clinically proven to offer the most comprehensive and complete joint protection, making it one of the best things to take for arthritis! Joint Health PLUS® decreases inflammation, protects and relieves your joints, reduces joint pain and stiffness, and contains ingredients proven to be 5 times more beneficial than other joint supplements on the market. So get walking, eat some nutritious food, and give your body the support it needs!