Joint pain refers to discomfort, aches, and soreness in any of the body’s joints. Joint pain is a common complaint. It doesn’t typically require a hospital visit. Sometimes, joint pain is the result of an illness or njury. Arthritis is also a common cause of joint pain. However, it can also be due to other conditions or factors.

Causes of Joint Pain

Joint pain can be caused by injury or disease affecting any of the ligaments, bursae (for example, bursitis), or tendons surrounding the joint. Injury or disease (for example, the autoimmune diseases systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis) can also affect the ligaments, cartilage, and bones within the joint, leading to a painful joint. Pain is also a feature of joint inflammation (arthritis) and infection (for example, Lyme disease) and can be a feature of rare tumors of the joint (for example, pigmented villonodular synovitis) or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Symptoms of Joint Pain

In some cases, your joint pain will require you to see a doctor. You should make an appointment if you don’t know the cause of your joint pain and are experiencing other unexplained symptoms. You should also see a doctor if:

• the area around the joint is swollen, red, tender, or warm to the touch
• the pain persists for three days or more
• you have a fever but no other signs of the flu

Go to the emergency room if any of the following occurs:

• You’ve experienced a serious injury.
• The joint appears deformed.
• Swelling of the joint occurs suddenly.
• The joint is completely immobile.
• You have severe joint pain.

Treatment of Joint Pain

There’s no treatment currently available that will completely eliminate the joint pain associated with arthritis or keep it from returning. However, there are ways to manage the pain. Your treatment options will depend on the cause of the pain. In some cases, your doctor will need to draw out accumulated fluid in the joint area to test for infection or gout or other causes of the joint pain. They might also recommend surgery to replace the joint.

Other non-surgical treatment methods could include lifestyle changes or medications that can potentially cause your RA to go into remission. In the case of RA, your doctor will first address inflammation. Once the RA goes into remission, your medical treatment will focus on keeping a tight rein on your condition so that you avoid flare-ups.