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What’s Causing Your Pain?

Injury, infection, or arthritis can damage and wear away the cartilage in your knee, causing joint stiffness or inflammation. Bones grind together and, not surprisingly, a great deal of pain can occur. The pain can be temporary, or chronic and debilitating. Fortunately, there are many ways to alleviate knee pain.

Arthritis is the number one cause
of chronic disability in the US¹

Affecting nearly 40 million Americans, it refers to more than 100 diseases that cause pain, stiffness, and swelling from the inflammation of a joint or the area around joints. There are two basic types of arthritis that may cause knee pain: osteoarthritis and inflammatory (rheumatoid) arthritis.

	Osteoarthritis	Rheumatoid arthritis
Definition	Joint disease that gets worse over time but does not cause swelling in the joints (not inflammatory)	Inflammatory condition (causes joint swelling) in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the tissue that lines and cushions the joints
Symptoms	Pain and stiffness	Pain and swelling
How many people are affected (US)?	About 16 million (most common type of arthritis)	Over 2 million (most common type of inflammatory arthritis)
Who gets the condition?	Usually middle-aged and older people	75% are women; most often begins between age 30 and 60, but can develop at any age
Why does it cause pain?	Cartilage that cushions the bones of the knee starts to erode, eventually to the point where the bones of the joint grind or rub together	Cartilage wears away and the cushioning fluid in the joint becomes inflamed. Inflammation causes chemicals to be released that damage the cartilage and bone of the affected joint

Some other possible causes for knee pain include ligament injuries, tears to cartilage, dislocation, tendonitis, bursitis, and growth of the bone around the joint. It’s important to seek the advice of a medical professional for a proper diagnosis if you have knee pain.

Reference:

1. Arthritis prevalence: a nation in pain. Arthritis Foundation website. Available at: http://www.arthritis.org/conditions/Fact_Sheets/Arthritis_Prev_Fact_Sheet.asp . Accessed September 12, 2006.

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