What are the symptoms and signs of osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis tends to creep up on you, gradually increasing over months or years. Stiff and painful joints are the main symptoms. The pain tends to be worse on exercising the joint and at the end of the day. Stiffness after resting usually ‘works off’ in just a minute or two as the joint gets moving again. The joint may not move as freely or as far as normal, and often ‘creaks’ or ‘cracks’ when moved. Occasionally the joint seems to give way because of weak muscles or loss of stability. Muscle exercises can strengthen the muscle and help prevent this (exercises and other helpful hints are discussed later in this booklet). Symptoms often vary for no obvious reason, with bad spells of a few weeks or months being broken by much better periods. Changes in the weather (especially damp and low pressure) can make joint pain worse for some people – others find it depends on how much physical activity they do. Often the joint appears a little swollen, due to hard bony osteophytes, or extra sy
