Joint Pain

Joints are the parts of your body where your bones meet. Joints allow the bones of your skeleton to move. Joints include:

Shoulders
Hips
Elbows
Knees

Joint pain refers to discomfort, aches, and soreness in any of the body’s joints. Joint pain is a common complaint. It doesn’t typically require a hospital visit.

Sometimes, joint pain is the result of an illness or injury. Arthritis is also a common cause of joint pain. However, it can also be due to other conditions or factors.

Causes of Joint Pain

Arthritis

One of the most common causes of joint pain is arthritis. The two main forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

According to the American College of Rheumatology, OA is most common in adults over age 40. It progresses slowly and tends to affect commonly used joints like the:

Wrists
Hands
Hips
Knees

Joint pain due to OA results from a breakdown of the cartilage that serves as a cushion and shock absorber for the joints.

The second form of arthritis is RA. According to the Arthritis Foundation, RA affects about 1.5 million Americans. It more commonly affects women than men.

It can deform and debilitate the joints over time. RA causes pain, inflammation, and fluid buildup in the joints as the body’s immune system attacks the membrane that lines the joints.

Other causes

Joint pain can be caused by:

Bursitis, or inflammation of the cushioning pads around joints
Lupus
Gout
Certain infectious diseases, such as mumps, influenza, and hepatitis
Chondromalacia of the patella, or a breakdown of the cartilage in the kneecap from an injury
Tendinitis, or inflammation of the tendon
An infection of the bone or joint
Overuse of a joint
Cancer
Fibromyalgia
Osteoporosis
Sarcoidosis
Rickets

Treatment for Joint Pain

A stem cell is a type of cell not specialized to perform a specific role. Instead, it has the unique ability to develop into one of many different types of cells.

Stem cell therapy uses stem cells to replace dead and diseased cells within the body.

The human body contains over 200 different types of cells. Usually, each type has certain characteristics that allow it to perform a specific role.

Cells with similar roles group together to form tissues, which then organize to form the body’s organs. For example, the heart is a collection of muscle tissues.

Doctors source the stem cells from body tissue, either from ethical birth tissue or an adult human, and isolate them in the laboratory. After manipulating the cells to develop into specific types, they then inject the cells into the recipient’s blood or tissue.