Joint pain is a common condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Whether it's a nagging discomfort or a debilitating sensation, joint pain can significantly impact daily life and limit mobility. Understanding the causes, symptoms, and available treatments is essential for managing this condition effectively. With many different possible causes, it’s usually best to speak to a doctor. Your doctor will narrow down different potential causes depending on how or when the pain started, how many joints are affected, and if there are any other symptoms alongside. In this article, we’ll take a look at the common causes of joint pain and how to treat it. Understanding joint pain Joints are the connections between bones in the human body. For example, the separate bones in the upper and lower arm are connected by our elbow joint. Joints provide the bones with stability and allow for easy movement, and are made up of several components including bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and synovial fluid. Joints can be rigid - such as the joints between your skull bones - or more commonly movable, such as in your shoulders, hips and knees. However, when joints don’t function as they should, this can lead to pain. As complex parts of the body, there are many types of joint pain that people commonly experience. The medical term for joint pain is ‘arthralgia’ and refers to discomfort in any joint in the body. It’s important to realise that this is different to the term ‘arthritis’, which specifically means joint inflammation. It’s possible to have a joint that is painful but not inflamed, but you can also have a joint that is both inflamed and painful. Types of joint pain Types of joint pain can affect various areas of the body, resulting in discomfort and restricted movement. Understanding the specific regions where joint pain commonly occurs is crucial for accurate diagnosis and targeted treatment. Some of the most common types include: knee pain shoulder pain back pain hip pain foot pain, including your ankle and toes hand pain, including your wrist and fingers elbow pain neck pain

The Achilles tendon is the large tendon just above your heel that you can feel like a cord when you move your foot up and down. It’s the largest and strongest tendon in the body. If the tendon tears, or snaps then this is called an Achilles tendon rupture. A rupture can be partial or total, depending on whether any of the tendon is still attached.

Disc herniation describes the sudden onset of pain as a result of a problem with an intervertebral disc in the spine. Disc herniation is characterised by the sudden onset of pain that can be severe. Disc herniation can cause pain felt in the back or neck, numbness, tingling or weakness felt in arms or legs, muscle spasm and muscle weakness.

Tendonitis is a common painful condition that can affect tendons around a joint. In most cases, tendonitis is a self-limiting condition and will improve after a period of activity limitation. Tendonitis was previously believed to be a condition of inflammation within a tendon. However, it is now understood that tendonitis does not involve inflammation and instead represents multiple micro-tears accumulating and the tendon generating a healing response. Most cases of tendonitis are caused by a sudden change or increase in your activity levels.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by the compression of one of the nerves in your hand (the median nerve) that helps you move your thumb. It also gives a particular area of skin the sensation to touch, pain and temperature - this is the skin over the thumb and parts of the first two fingers. The median nerve runs through something called the carpal tunnel as it navigates through your wrist into your hand. The carpal tunnel, which is a gap formed from the bones in your wrist and a big ligament, can swell up and squash the nerve. This usually causes pins and needles, numbness and pain in your thumb, index finger and middle finger, and sufferers typically say symptoms are worse at night. Sometimes, if you’ve suffered from this for a long time, the muscle at the bottom of the thumb loses power as the muscle wastes away. There is no one specific cause of carpal tunnel syndrome but it is more common in women, the elderly and during pregnancy or menopause. Swelling of the carpal tunnel can occur from injury to your hand or wrist, joint conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and from diabetes or obesity. You may be at higher risk if your job or hobby involves a lot of manual work, such as having to bend the wrist or grip things for a long time, or using work tools that vibrate such as a pneumatic drill. It is thought to be more common in pregnancy and menopause as there is often increased water retention so the tissues in the wrists and hands may be more swollen, causing the carpal tunnel to narrow and put pressure on the nerve.