What causes joint stiffness? Four major factors tell you

Many people have experienced joint stiffness. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as joint swelling, morning stiffness, etc. For this phenomenon, everyone must take appropriate methods to treat it according to the cause.

(1) Joint pain and tenderness

The vast majority of patients begin to develop joint swelling. The swelling is caused by increased exudate in the joint cavity and inflammatory changes in the soft tissue around the joints, and manifests as uniform swelling around the joints. The fusiform swelling of the proximal joints of the fingers is one of the typical symptoms of rheumatoid patients. The severity of joint pain is usually parallel to the degree of swelling. The more obvious the joint swelling, the more severe the pain, even severe pain.

(2) Joint swelling

Any affected joint may become swollen, and joint swelling indicates that the inflammation is more severe. The typical manifestation is uniform swelling around the joints, such as fusiform swelling of the proximal interphalangeal joints. Joint swelling is easiest to detect in the small joints of the limbs, but swelling in large joints such as the shoulders and hips is not easy to detect.

(3) Morning stiffness 95%

The above patients have morning joint stiffness. Morning stiffness refers to the prolonged stiffness and limited movement of the affected joint when you wake up in the morning after the affected joint has been motionless at night. Morning stiffness is often a symptom of joint involvement, mostly occurring in the joints.

Before the pain occurs, stiffness may occur in joints throughout the body when the condition is severe. The symptoms of morning stiffness may be alleviated or disappear after getting up and moving around or warming up. Morning stiffness is often accompanied by coldness and numbness of the extremities or fingers (toes).

(4) Joint friction sound

During the inflammatory period of rheumatoid arthritis, the examiner's hands can often feel fine crackling sounds or a feeling of gripping snow when moving the joints, typically in the elbows and knees, which indicates inflammation of the joints. After the inflammation of some joints subsides, a clicking sound can be heard or touched when moving the joints. This is most obvious in the fingers, knees, and hip joints. It may be caused by rheumatoid arthritis accompanied by bone hyperplasia.