If you have ever woken up with a strange pain in one of your joints, you are not alone. If it continues for several days, you need to do something about it. Joint pain causes should be determined quickly. Usually, they are due to some kind of injury. Do not misunderstand the term "injury". It does not mean that you must have gotten hurt in one particular incident. Simply put, an injury is not only the result of falling and hurting your hip. It can result in hip joint pain that has a debilitating impact on your life.
Many injuries occur over an extended or prolonged period. Take for example, athletic injuries. Many athletes are subjected to perform similar motions continuously, which strains muscles, ligaments, joints, etc. Torn ligaments are often the culprit, but they don't have to be torn, necessarily. An over-stretched ligament can cause a sprain too, which leads to inflammation and swelling of a joint.
Breaking a bone or a fracture are also joint pain causes. A split bone or a slight crack in the bone can be the result of a continuous motion that places too much stress on a bone. It is plain to see that a broken bone will be quite obvious to suspect, in most cases, but with a hairline crack, it could be hidden. Joint pain causes are also the result of more "serious" conditions. Osteoarthritis is a common culprit in older individuals and extremely common in women who are menopausal or post-menopausal. However, men are also affected by osteoarthritis as well, in their middle ages. In fact, both men and women are equally affected by OA in their 40s but this changes later, affecting more women at age 55 than their counterparts.
Most people suspect and worry that their symptoms are directly related to arthritis. It often is, unfortunately. But, there are also autoimmune diseases that are the cause. One such autoimmune disease is rheumatoid arthritis that causes joint pain and swelling and can have a negative impact on other organs. Another distinguishing attribute with RA is that it occurs simultaneously in both sides of the body, I. E.; both knees would be affected at the same time. More women are diagnosed with this than are men.
Autoimmune diseases are those that "confuse" the immune system, causing the body to attack the disease as well as the healthy cells. Another such autoimmune disease is Lupus which is also known to be another of joint pain causes. Here too, it affects more females than males. Gout, influenza, chickenpox, German measles, measles, bursitis, hepatitis, mumps and many other infectious diseases also cause joint pain. Fortunately, as you gradually recover from many of these, the pain and inflammation that can accompany them subside. In other words, when you get over the flu, the soreness will disappear along with it.
