Recognizing the Early Symptoms of Arthritis

Knowing that arthritis runs in your family and chances are you carry the genetics that cause it can be worrying. Many of us are also already aware of that fact that arthritis is best treated early when the symptoms are less severe and more can be done to help joint repair. This is why we've compiled a list of the early symptoms of arthritis so that you can look out for them and ask your doctor for advice as soon as the condition appears.

While the early symptoms of arthritis are vague, they are usually just a less severe version of the symptoms felt in advances or chronic arthritis. To be more specific, those with the early stages of arthritis will feel a pain in their joints that gets worse when they do specific activities and worse when the joint is put under pressure. It may feel swollen or hot and even look a little red, but most commonly reported is joint stiffness along with pain, meaning that moving the joint becomes more difficult. Many people often feel tired and have a low grade fever when a bout of arthritis attacks, so take your temperature every hour and write it down alongside how badly you rate the pain in your joints from 1 to 10. Do remember that your body is trying to tell you that it needs time to repair itself and re-cooperate so have an early night, stay warm, well fed and don't get too stressed if you can help it.

The early symptoms of arthritis also depend on what kind of arthritis you are suffering from. For instance, people who have gout are likely to have a high temperature along with swelling and pain int heir big toe as this is where gout is usually localized. On the other hand, someone with psoriatic arthritis might experience joint pain at the same time as a bout of psoriasis on the skin flares up as the two conditions are very closely related. If you suffer from ankylosing spondylitis then you will first feel pain in the lower back, the hips and at the base of the spine, along with stiffness. These effects happen usually after exercise or prolonged activity, as they also do for those with osteoarthritis.

The important thing to remember with the early symptoms of arthritis is that any pain in the joints can signal any of the 200 different types of arthritis that exist. These are categorized into three main groups to help doctors formulate plans for diagnosis and treatment, but there are still many types that you can suffer from and diagnosis can take time. For this reason it's incredibly important to visit the doctor if you've been experiencing joint pain for over one week because at this time it is still very treatable and you may even be able to restore your joints back to their former health.

Source: Health Guidance