Common Causes For Peripheral Joint Pains

Joints are known as the connection between two bones. They have a rich bloody supply because joint spaces between two bones have a lot of functions. They contain synovial fluid within them and hence act as shock absorber and don’t let the two bony surfaces rub against each other while movement. People of all ages might suffer from joint pains but there are generalized causes for the same.

You cannot categorize the cause of joint pain as same for a 20 year old man and a 60 year old female. Although, the basic human anatomy remains the same, there could be various reasons why joints of the body can ache. Here are some basic reasons for joint pains –

• Arthritis – This is one of the severe causes of joint disease and can occur at any age. Rheumatoid arthritis presents itself as pain in the smaller joints and if tested, the Rheumatic factor will be positive in patients. Osteo arthritis is more of a degenerative joint disease that occurs as a result of wearing and tearing or old age. It is usually noticed in elderly females rather than males. Both of them have different reasons but the type of pain will be similar.
• Pathology – Various pathologic causes can result into joint pain. The synovial fluid inside the join space can be inflamed or there could be an infection in the bursa around the joints. In this, the commonly affected joints are the large joints of the body namely shoulder, hip and knee. Pathologic causes are relatively easy to treat because the exact causative agent can be found out quickly using specific tests.
• Trauma – People meet with accidents and there could be trauma to the bones or joint spaces. Most of the times when there is a collision with a hard surface which causes a fracture to the bone, there may be bone fragments that disperse into the joint spaces and cause aches in the joint. Traumatic causes may not be highlighted at first because the injuries related to the accident will be dealt with as a primary treatment but a CT scan can reveal the bone fragments present in the joint space.
• Occupational – Occupation of a person can be one of the causes of joint pain. A ballet dancer’s toes or a karate teacher’s fingers are common joints of affection. Sports persons can suffer from knee pain or hip pain but that happens due to an overuse injury of the joint. People who have a sedentary working job could develop hip joint pain and the joints in their back can pain affecting the lower back the most.

Joint pain could be categorized into various other causes but the major ones are mentioned above. Apart from that, there could be extra capsular injuries like sprains, tendonitis, bursitis or strains. Structures like tendons and ligaments provide outward support to the joint. They may get injured and their injury can cause instability of the joint. Although, the pain that maybe caused in the joint because of affection of these structures will not be as great in magnitude but they still play an important role.