Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with joints

Do joint relief medicines work?

zonem — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:57:46 -0800

I've had a pained knee for many years. A combination of flat feet and running in bad sneakers destroyed a lot of the cartilage, and now it hurts to run, kneel, etc. Cold weather brings the pain, especially. I've been through various types of physical therapy and tried various running books (ChiRunning) and shoes (from Grid Stabils to FiveFingers), but it never makes the pain go away completely. Recently, a well intentioned relative brought me Joint Relief Formula which purports to help your joints with Omega 3 and "Iceland Collagen GHA". I can't find any unbiased reviews on the web, nor any explanations why Omega 3 or the Collagen would help in my case. Has anyone used this stuff? Or can you link to medical studies showing their efficacy (or lack thereof)? I have access to most medical journals.

Could doing power yoga 2 - 4 times a week for 1.5 hours be hurting my joints?

whoaali — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:51:54 -0800

Could doing power yoga 2 - 4 times a week for 1.5 hours be hurting my joints? I'm one of the lucky few people who has had almost no problems with my joints ever. I have some issues with my lower back, but that's really it. That being said I'm not much of an athlete, so that may explain why my knees and hips are in such good shape.

I started doing pretty intense power yoga about 2 months ago. Since then I've noticed my knees and hips are bothering me more. Mostly this is in class while I am doing the poses, but sometimes my knees and hips feel weird/painful outside of class. Not exactly sore, but like things aren't really lining up quite right and it definitely hurts.

I know yoga is supposed to be great for your joints, but I feel like the intense power yoga is hurting mine. The yoga I'm doing is definitely intense and they really push you. Could the yoga be hurting my joints? Am I just experiencing the normal aches and pains of getting back in shape?

For what it's worth I'm very flexible, but not very muscular. I've also gotten into yoga after about 6 months of minimal physical activity and about a 10 pound weight gain.

Tips for running?

mintchip — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:25:33 -0800

Tips for running? I run (interspersed with some walking) 3-5 miles about 4-5x/week.

1. Other than getting good shoes, what do I need to do to protect my knees? Is getting knee and joint problems from running inevitable?

2. How bad is it to run on a decline? In the area I live it's really difficult to avoid running downhill.

3. Even though I'm quite fit I seem to be really slow about building up aerobic endurance. Is there something I can do to speed this up? I get out of breath after maybe 1/2 half mile and then walk for a bit and start running again. How long before I should be able to go the whole distance without stopping?

Any other jogging/running tips are welcome.

Am I the only one with these strange body quirks?

jasminerain — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:14:25 -0800

I'd had two quirks for as long as I can remember: my neck is extremely sensitive to touch, and I get an aching pain in my joints (knees, wrist, finger joints) when it's cold/damp. Does anyone else get the same thing? My neck is sensitive to things touching it on/near the throat. I can touch the area myself, but it bothers me a lot when someone else tries to touch it. For example, I can only wear a turtleneck for about 20 seconds before having to tear it off. Tight-collared shirts bother me quite a bit, and having a necklace with a short chain start to bother me. It feels kind of uncomfortable at first, but it gradually builds to the point where I have to take whatever it is off (with a turtleneck, it feels like I'm being strangled slowly). I've been like this as long as I can remember.

(I know there's been a similar question about a sensitive neck before, but in my case, it didn't appear suddenly, so it's probably not caused by a change in my health or life.)

The other quirk is that my joints will ache once in a while, but more often when it's raining or cold. It usually goes away if I cover the area with a blanket. I talked to a doctor about this when I was about 16, and she ran a blood test that came up negative for everything (including arthritis).

I'm 22 and female. I'm not really worried about health since they've been around so long, but I'm rather curious about why it happens, and whether it happens to anyone else.

Thanks!

Why is McEnroe stopping me from picking up iron?

keep it tight — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:35:36 -0800

DamnTennisElbowFilter... Ok, I have tennis elbow in my left elbow. Got a cortisone shot (ouch!) about 3 months ago, but it's back...just let my elbow pain, there is... So what I am wondering is if I chew a couple of Aleve prior to hitting the gym, am I going to further damage something in there?

It really only hurts on biceps days, but I can bear it if necessary.

Anyone have experience with this?

TIA!

Joint pain: what can I do to make it better?

man on the run — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:04:15 -0800

What is this joint pain, and what can I do to alleviate it? I'm a 30 year old man in generally good health except that I deal with joint pain and stiffness across my body on a daily basis. It's worst in my fingers, wrists, and shoulders, but also bothersome in my knees, and one toe in particular. I have had some joint pain since my early 20's, and it has become progressively worse over time. I also get a lot of "snap, crackle, and pop" in my shoulders and finger joints. I'm concerned that I'm going to be a cripple by the time I'm 40 if this deterioration continues unabated.

I saw my doctor recently for a physical, and he basically said "you're not too young to get arthritis, take some advil or motrin when it's bad." I was hoping for a more robust plan of attack, but that's what I got from him.

A little additional background about my health: not overweight, low BP, physically active, and I drink between 20 - 30 drinks per. week.

My question is twofold:
1. Is this arthritis, or could it be something else?
2. What can I try to help reduce my daily aches and pains?

:-(

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:12:02 -0800

My neck cracking habit is killing me. I crack my neck all the time. Some days it happens more than other days but I do it every single day at least 4 times.

On days where it's really bad I will crack my neck everytime I get a chance and my head neck and shoulders will feel sore all day long. Most of the time I use my hands to press my chin up to the side. Sometimes the tips of my fingers feel numb right after I crack it.

This is a disgusting, repulsive, terrible habit. I remember being totally grossed out by neck cracking before I started myself.

My mother who has the same unfortunate habit went to a chiropractor who told her that there were many cases of people who had quite literally *killed themselves* with overenthusiastic neck cracking. I have absolutely no doubt that if this is indeed possible it will happen to me if I do not stop soon.

I've tried before to stop. But then that tense/stiff feeling just builds up until I can't stand it until *snap crackle pop* ((bliss))

I want to be like how I was before I started this terrible habit when my neck just felt normal all the time. This is making me miserable. I can't afford to see a chiropractor on a regular basis.

Please, for the love of mankind, help me.

Desire to exercise + bad joints = ?

namespan — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 14:07:44 -0800

Desire to exercise + bad joints = ? . Should I try to find some kind of trainer or sports therapist? Should I look into some kind of machine (I'm considering rowing or eliptical), and if so what do I look for in quality machines? Should I just go to a gym for a few months, try some things on my own and see what feels good? I used to jog, but I've been out of the habit for 3-4 years, and now my feet and ankles are troubled and going is just impossible. Hell, some days walking is painful. I need some kind of exercise, though, because I increasingly feel like crap and I'm getting fat and this does not bode well if I'm only in my early 30s.

For some reason I haven't figured out yet, the rowing machine seems most appealing to me, and so I'm sortof fishing for feedback on that, but I'm really open to any general advice.

An arthritic at age 30??

mragreeable — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:25:09 -0800

I'd like a little help diagnosing joint pain in my fingers. (This is kinda long - sorry.)

The most obvious guess, to me anyways, is arthritis. I went to the doctor about this and he looked at my fingers and felt them for a moment and said "well you certainly don't look arthritic" and that was the end of it. (That makes him sound like a pretty crappy doctor but I went in for a couple of other issues. I wish I had pressed the issue a bit more in retrospect.)

In particular, it's the joints closest to my fingertips that hurt. I've read rheumatoid arthritis tends not to hit these particular joints. It's worse when I first wake up. It hurts to make a fist but goes away after a few minutes of moving my hands. Even if I take a brief nap in the afternoon my hands will hurt when I wake up then too. If I grab that joint and squeeze it, it hurts even now, though.

The joints aren't swolen or warm or anything.

Some background - I'm 30. BMI calculators put me safely in the "normal" range. Low blood pressure. Don't know about blood sugar level or anything like that, if it matters. I don't know of any health problems I have, except I have psoriasis, which apparently can cause its own unique variet of arthritis as well. I exercise daily and my diet is... well, not terrible.

Also, the pain sorta coincided with my taking up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which was about three months ago. I go five days a week. BJJ generally leaves me sore and bruised all over, though we are not allowed to attack fingers, and what's going on with my fingers doesn't seem like normal soreness/minor injury to me. To defend against chokes and arm bars I will often hold on to my lapel or sleeve, so I do end up clenching my fists pretty tightly from time to time there. Though I wouldn't expect that to cause my fingers to ache only after I wake up.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't seem consistent with any list of symptoms for any variety of arthritis I've read about.

Is joint cracking harmful?

norm — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 11:26:56 -0800

Every freaking joint in my body cracks, and I have a (pseudo-) neurotic need to do so on a daily basis. With the knuckles, it's just habit; with the neck and back, I genuinely feel very stiff unless I do so. Am I damaging my body in some way? Most of the advice I've heard on this issue has been from people with an agenda (i.e., they are annoyed by it) so I don't trust them.

Previously noted here, but didn't see the answer to my specific question.

Popping Noise in Joints

Raze2k — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 12:24:21 -0800

Rotating my wrists, my thumbs, ... in certain ways elicits a soft cracking noise; imagine a more subdued version of cracking one's knuckles. While this isn't painful or particularly uncomfortable now, I'm concerned for the long-term. Any recommendations? I saw a doctor a year or so ago and he essentially just shrugged and said, you'll live. It hasn't gotten worse, but I'm worried that the condition will grow to be painful. Has anyone else experienced anything like this and, if so, what steps can be taken to remedy this?