Some of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, commonly what brings a patient to the orthopedic surgeon’s office are pain and swelling and stiffness of a joint. With osteoarthritis, typically, the major joints are affected, the weight bearing joints such as the knee, such as the hip, and often the shoulder and spine. Patients will complain of an aching pain within the joint seems to get worse. The more they’re up on the joint, the more active they are, the more activity or force that is placed on the joint, leads to more pain, more swelling, and more stiffness. So that’s a common –those are some common set of symptoms that we see in the office, patients complaining if their joint is sore, the more they’re up and about, the more they do with it, the more force that’s placed upon the joint, the more pain they have. As well as progressive stiffness and trouble with their activities of daily living. Conversely with rheumatoid arthritis, patients typically state that when they wake up in the morning, their joints are sore, not just one particular joint but typically symmetric joints in the hands, in the feet, in the ankles. Typically as they get up and moving, things feel a little better, but their symptoms are usually worse after a period of an activity or first thing in the morning.
