Published on October 9, 2024
Key takeaways:
- Osteoarthritis starts with cartilage damage. This leads to inflammation and changes to the joint and nearby bone and soft tissues.
- Early signs of osteoarthritis include joint pain, stiffness, and a grinding or crunching sensation in the joint.
- People are more likely to experience osteoarthritis symptoms as they get older.
Osteoarthritis is sometimes called “wear and tear” arthritis. Osteoarthritis starts with damage to the articular cartilage, the material that lines the bony surfaces inside a joint. This triggers inflammation and injury to nearby bone and surrounding tissues.
Osteoarthritis is more common the older you (and your joints) get. But it’s not the only condition that causes joint pain. So how do you know if you have osteoarthritis or some other problem? Let’s review early signs of osteoarthritis.
Quiz: Do I have arthritis?
1. Pain
Early joint pain with osteoarthritis happens with activity. That means you feel pain when you’re actively moving your joint. The pain gets better with rest. Osteoarthritis pain can also be worse in cold temperatures.
Osteoarthritis can happen in any joint, but it’s especially common in the knees, hips, hands, and spine.
2. Stiffness
Stiffness, or feeling like it’s hard to move a joint, is another early sign of osteoarthritis. Joint stiffness is often the worst first thing in the morning, or after prolonged sitting.
- Does what you eat affect arthritis? It can. These are the foods to avoid if you have arthritis.
- Osteoarthritis isn’t the only type of arthritis. Our arthritis guide breaks down the differences between major types of arthritis.
- Can you exercise with osteoarthritis? Yes! One woman shares how she stays active while living with osteoarthritis.
Joint stiffness from osteoarthritis typically goes away in less than 30 minutes once you start moving your joint. Stiffness that lasts longer may be caused by a different type of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
3. Swelling
Damage to a joint, from injury or a chronic condition like osteoarthritis, triggers inflammation. The body sends immune cells into the joint space and surrounding tissues to help heal damage. But this inflammatory response can cause other symptoms, too, like swelling and pain.
You may notice joint swelling if you have early osteoarthritis. You may also notice that the area is painful to the touch along the joint line. Osteoarthritis of the knee can also cause swelling in the back of the knee, called a baker’s cyst.
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4. Grinding or crunching feeling with movement
Another warning sign of osteoarthritis is a crunching or grinding sensation in the joint. The medical term for this feeling is crepitus. Crepitus can happen in healthy joints, or after an injury, but it’s particularly common in chronic joint problems like osteoarthritis. One study found that crepitus in the knees is an early sign of cartilage damage due to osteoarthritis.
5. Trouble moving
Osteoarthritis can make it harder for joints to move smoothly and through their full range of motion. That’s because as cartilage wears away, the underlying bone becomes damaged. The body responds by trying to grow new bone in that spot. This can lead to bony lumps growing within the joint that end up making it harder for the joint to move properly.
6. Hard lumps over the joint
Some people with osteoarthritis develop hard lumps over the joint. These lumps are actually new bone tissue. The bone tries to grow new bone to help heal inflammation from arthritis.
Bony nodules can be very noticeable if you have osteoarthritis in your hands. Hard bumps in the joint closest to the fingertip (Heberden’s nodes) and the middle finger joint (Bouchard’s nodes) are signs of hand osteoarthritis.
When should you get care for arthritis symptoms?
Talk with your primary care provider if you have joint pain and stiffness, especially after sitting or resting for prolonged periods of time. Osteoarthritis is generally not a dangerous condition, but it can be very painful and interfere with your quality of life.
It’s helpful to receive an early diagnosis of osteoarthritis so you can start treatment. As osteoarthritis gets worse, the joint may ache all the time. Early treatment can help you avoid worsening pain and stiffness.
You should get urgent medical care if you have joint pain that might be due to a different type of arthritis, like inflammatory arthritis or infectious arthritis. These kinds of arthritis can be serious and require different types of treatment. Signs that you might have an inflammatory or infectious arthritis include:
- Sudden onset of joint symptoms: Osteoarthritis usually develops over months to years.
- Severe pain: Osteoarthritis can be painful, but usually you can still move the joint. If you have so much pain that you can’t move it at all, you may have an infection of the joint, called septic arthritis.
- Fever: Joint pain that develops along with fever, headache, rash, and lymph node swelling can be a sign of a viral infection.
The bottom line
Early signs of osteoarthritis include pain, stiffness, and swelling in the hands, hips, knees, and back. A crunching or grinding feeling with movement and decreased range of motion are also common in osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis symptoms can be difficult to tell apart from other joint problems. But sudden onset of symptoms, fever, and severe joint pain are often signs of more dangerous conditions like inflammatory or infectious arthritis.
Why trust our experts?
Christine Giordano, MD
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
References
Arthritis Foundation. (2021). Osteoarthritis of the hands.
Holla, J. F. M., et al. (2011). Determinants of range of joint motion in patients with early symptomatic osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee: An exploratory study in the CHECK cohort. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.
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