As you age, you might expect that some level of joint pain or arthritis is just part of the territory. Experts now say that may not be the case if you start making healthy changes early.
Pain showing up as people age is a real thing. More than 50% of people over the age of 65 have some level of joint pain.
Types of Pain
Knowing the ways pain can show up in your joints can get you on the right path.
“Joint pain is dependent on many things such as family history, physical activity levels, environmental conditions, history of injuries or trauma,” says Brett Smith, DO, a rheumatologist in Alcoa, TN. “Pain is more common as we age, but not necessarily a fact of life.”
There are many types of arthritis. Two you may hear the most about are:
- Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common type of arthritis. It impacts 27 million Americans. Osteoarthritis is often called wear and tear arthritis because it comes from using your joints over time or after an injury. In OA, the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones in your joints wears away until bone rubs on bone.
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an inflammatory condition where your immune system attacks the tissue that lines your joints. Symptoms can also include tender, warm, stiff, and swollen joints along with fever, fatigue, and loss of appetite.
