What Causes Joint Pain?

Joint pain can describe inflammation, pain, or discomfort that occurs in any portion of a joint. the joints are the places bones connect. The makeup of joints is what allows individuals to move their body freely. In addition to bone, joints are made up of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. The cartilage is meant to cushion the ends of bones to keep them from rubbing painfully against each other. Tendons connect muscles to bones, while ligaments connect bones to each other. It's most common for individuals to experience joint pain inside the actual joint. This condition, called arthritis, occurs when the inside of the joint becomes inflamed in some way. Some joint pain is mild enough that the soreness occurs only after physical activity, but other joint pain is severe enough to be disabling.

Learn about the major causes of joint pain now.

Joint Overuse

Joint overuse is a type of injury that occurs when there's repetitive trauma or stress to a joint. The most common reason joint overuse occurs is because of an individual taking on too much physical activity too quickly. This can occur when individuals start a new job that involves more physical activity, take on a new training regimen too fast, or do a one-time project involving a lot of stress on their joints. Training errors and errors in technique are the most common causes of this injury. A training error occurs when individuals increase their physical activity levels too quickly. Exercising for prolonged periods, moving too fast, or doing too many reps of a certain exercise can cause an overuse injury. A technique error occurs when individuals use improper form to exercise or complete other tasks. If individuals don't have the right form when strength training, or if they use the wrong form to throw a baseball or swing a tennis racket, they're more likely to cause strain and pain in their joints.

Uncover more causes of joint pain now.