Have you had persistent joint pain for less than 6 weeks ?

If you are experiencing joint pain lasting less than six weeks, it may be too early to tell if your symptoms are related to arthritis, or possibly a musculoskeletal injury. If you are in significant discomfort, contact your health care provider. Monitor your symptoms – and if they continue beyond six weeks, come back and take the symptom checker again and use the summary page as a way to discuss your symptoms with your health care provider.

Some of the tasks we do in our daily lives, like repeating the same movement, reaching, lifting, and awkward postures can cause strain on our bodies. Sometimes straining our bodies can result in a disorder or injury to muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels or joints of the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, legs and back. This could include a sprain, strain or inflammation. This type of disorder or injury is called a musculoskeletal injury (MSI). Some examples include tendinitis, ruptured/herniated disc, bursitis and ligament sprain.

Signs of an MSI include swelling, redness and/or difficulty moving the affected part of the body. Symptoms may include numbness, tingling and pain. Signs and symptoms may appear suddenly, for example you can trace them to a particular incident. Alternately the signs and symptoms may appear gradually overtime.

If you have signs and symptoms of an MSI you should talk with your healthcare provider to develop a treatment plan designed to address your particular condition.

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Disclaimer: The Arthritis Society symptom checker was designed to help you have more effective conversations with your healthcare provider. The information provided is for educational purposes and should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem. The information provided is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, you should consult with your healthcare provider.