What Are Common Symptoms Of Osteoarthritis?

Dr. Paula Rackoff answers the question: 'Common Symptoms Of Osteoarthritis?'

ByABC News
April 1, 2008, 5:32 PM

— -- Question: What are common symptoms of osteoarthritis?

Answer: The common symptoms of osteoarthritis are early morning stiffness that lasts for about 15 minutes. Actually, the duration of morning stiffness is important because if it lasts more than 30 to 60 minutes, we think about diagnoses other than osteoarthritis. So in addition to morning stiffness, it's diffuse achiness, creaking joints, difficulty walking up and down stairs, something called movie theater knees -- which is really osteoarthritis of the knees where you go to the movies, you see a movie for two hours and then when it's time to get up, you literally can't. So it's generally achiness and stiffness.

Next: How Is Osteoarthritis Diagnosed, And Are Any Tests Used In The Process?

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