Hemarthrosis occurs when you have bleeding into a joint. It may be due to a number of reasons, including:

Blood can damage the cartilage inside your joints. Symptoms include:

It can take weeks or months to go away on its own. Treatment helps prevent pain and disability.

Hypothyroidism involves an underactive thyroid gland. The most common cause is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease in which your body attacks your thyroid gland.

The thyroid is responsible for keeping numerous hormones in balance. When they're out of balance, a lot of things can go wrong. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

Lyme disease is transmitted via tick bites. Lyme bacteria in your joint tissue causes inflammation and pain known as Lyme arthritis.

The main symptom is swelling of one or more of the joints. Common sites include:

It may seem odd, but unexplained joint pain is a primary physical symptom of depression. Other common symptoms include:

New joint pain is a reason to see your healthcare provider. Also, make an appointment if you have a pain condition but:

Many people with one pain condition go on to develop another. For example, it's common for someone with RA or lupus to eventually develop secondary fibromyalgia.

Get urgent medical care if your joint pain is severe or you have:

Healthcare providers have myriad tools for diagnosing the cause of your back joint pain. They include:

The specific tests you'll get depend on your symptoms.

The first step in the diagnostic process is a medical history. That includes the details of your joint pain, such as:

Your healthcare provider will also ask whether you have a family history of joint pain. That's because some conditions (like psoriatic arthritis) tend to run in families.

Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if any of the following apply to you:

Before your appointment, think about all of these things so you can provide helpful information.

How Symptoms Help

Details about your pain can help narrow down possible diagnoses. For example, if sudden, severe pain hits one joint at a time, it may be:

Mild, achy pain that comes on gradually and affects more than one joint could be:

Joint pain of osteoarthritis improves with rest and worsens with activity. Arthritis due to RA is worse with rest and improves with activity.

Being thorough at that first appointment can help you get to the right tests, and the right treatments, faster.

During the physical exam, your healthcare provider will press on the painful joints. They're looking for:

These are signs of inflammation. They'll also move your joints around to check for a limited range of motion or crepitus (popping and grinding).

They'll note whether your pain is symmetrical (in the same joint on both sides) or asymmetrical. Lastly, they'll look for various clues such as:

Exam findings may lead to a clear diagnosis. But much of the time, more work is needed.

Blood tests are necessary for diagnosing many systemic (body-wide) causes of joint pain. They may include:

If they suspect autoimmune disease, your provider may order tests for certain antibodies. Those are your immune system's "attack" cells.

If they suspect fibromyalgia, you may be given questionnaires to fill out. These are measurements of pain, other symptoms, and their impact on you.

Imaging tests can help confirm or rule out a diagnosis. For example, an X-ray may reveal:

Other imaging tests may provide more information about a joint and its surrounding tissues. Common ones include:

A few procedures can help confirm a diagnosis.

Joint Aspiration and Synovial Fluid Analysis

With joint aspiration, a needle is used to remove fluid from inside the synovium (joint lining). The fluid is then analyzed under a microscope. This can help diagnose:

Synovial Biopsy

If your healthcare provider suspects tuberculosis or fungal infection, they may perform a synovial biopsy.

This involves removing a small tissue sample from the synovium. The tissue is then examined in the lab.

In some cases, you may need to see a specialist (or more than one) to get an official diagnosis.

Sometimes, what's perceived as joint pain comes from a non-joint related condition. These may include:

These causes are typically easy for your health team to rule out.

Treatments for joint pain depend on the diagnosis. Options include:

Simple things you can try at home, before or after a diagnosis, include:

You can take good care of your joint(s) and yourself by:

You may want to try an anti-inflammatory diet. Some illnesses, such as gout, may be improved with specific dietary changes.

Be sure to involve your healthcare practitioner in any lifestyle change you make.

Several different medications can ease joint pain. The specific type depends on your diagnosis. Some possible medications are:

Medications for autoimmune diseases change how your immune system works. These include:

Fibromyalgia and depression are often treated with drugs that alter brain chemistry. These include:

Fibromyalgia is also treated with anti-seizure medications:

Other conditions require specific treatments.

Physical therapy for joint pain focuses on:

Depending on your condition, your physical therapist may recommend a walking aid, brace, or splint.

For fibromyalgia, a supervised physical exercise program is especially important. It can help manage symptoms like muscle and joint, fatigue, and anxiety.

Several mind-body therapies can alleviate joint pain. They can be used alone (alternative) or along with other treatments (complementary). Some of these include:

Your healthcare provider can help you decide which approaches may be helpful or harmful to you.

Surgery is generally reserved for advanced cases of joint pain. This may include knee or hip OA that hasn't responded to less invasive treatments.

An osteotomy is sometimes a good option. It involves cutting and reshaping bones to ease pressure on a joint. That may delay the need for a joint replacement.

Good osteotomy candidates are:

In severe cases, total joint replacement may be necessary.

Many conditions cause joint pain. Some are chronic (long-lasting). Others may be temporary. They may run their course without treatment or only clear up with the right treatments.

Some joint-pain causes just affect the joints. Others are systemic conditions with many other symptoms.

New joint pain, or a new type of joint pain, are reasons to see a healthcare provider. To diagnose the problem, they'll use your medical history, a physical exam, and possibly blood tests, imaging, and special procedures.

Treatment depends on the diagnosis. Medication, physical therapy, and sometimes surgery are standard. You may also benefit from lifestyle changes, self-care strategies, and complementary therapies.

Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Joint pain is a clear signal but it can be hard to figure out where it's coming from.

The diagnostic process can take time and lead to a lot of frustration. Hang in there, though. Once the cause is found, you can start on the right treatments.

And that's what it takes to tackle your pain, quiet your symptoms, and improve your quality of life.

You may have a temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The temporomandibular joints (TMJ) attach your lower jaw to your skull. TMD can come from internal problems with the joint, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Pain in many joints is caused by some types of arthritis or other inflammatory disorders. Multiple-joint pain that comes from elsewhere could be from tendonitis, bursitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and fibromyalgia.

Make an appointment if you have these symptoms for three days in a row or several times in one month:

Cold therapy (like an ice pack) is usually most effective for acute (short-term) joint inflammation. That's because it reduces blood flow to the area.

Heat can relieve chronic joint pain. It does this by opening blood vessels so healing blood, oxygen, and nutrients can get to the joints.