What is Arthralgia?

My husband is a candidate for knee replacement surgery because of arthritis. In one knee there is no cartilage left and is just bone on bone.

He works construction, so all the years of hard work have taken a toll on his body. He is still a few years from retirement, so the surgeon is hoping he can put it off as long as possible.

In the mean time, his treatment for arthritis is some prescription medication that is supposed to help with the inflammation.

He has also had steroid shots, but they don't seem to last very long for him.

I think arthralgia is something that affects almost everyone eventually. I remember all of my grandparents complaining of arthritis and rheumatism in their joints.

The older I get, the more arthralgias I feel all over my body. Most of these pains are in areas where I have had a previous injury.

I must have been somewhat accident prone when I was a kid, because I have broken an arm, a leg and a foot - not all at the same time!

It is these areas where the pain and joint stiffness seems to settle. I am also pretty good at predicting rain, as this is when they feel the worse.

I also don't have nearly as much range of motion in the arm that I broke many years ago.

In talking with older people, it seems like this is something that is going to get worse, and not better as I age.

At this point, I haven't had to take any medication for it. If it gets to the point where it limits my activities, I would be willing to take something if it helped me stay active.

I have found that over the counter pain relievers like Advil or Tylenol work well for mild arthritis conditions.

I have also had good results with hot packs for treatment for arthralgia from over exertion.

If I spend too much time outside gardening or doing yard work, I can really feel it in my joints later on that day.

On days that I have overdone it, I will take a pain reliever with a sleep aid, use a hot pack and usually feel much better in the morning.

@fify-- I think you should continue with your check-ups about your arthralgia. If you don't have symptoms of arthritis and the joint pain isn't accompanied by inflammation, doctors are not really able to diagnose it.

I had the same problem with my arm joints for years and it was finally linked to an immune system disorder that I was diagnosed with. I don't think all cases of undiagnosed arthralgia will be that serious but it's still something to keep an eye on.

And @burcidi is absolutely right about some medications causing arthralgia. Usually the side effects will list things like fatigue, joint pain and weakness. So take a look if you're on any medications right now. That might be the cause.

I've also gone through various pain relievers for the pain. I think anti-inflammatory prescriptive drugs give the best results. The over-the-counter pain-relievers have done nothing for me.

@fify-- Of course. Arthralgia isn't a condition or disease, it's just a symptom. I'm sure that there is always an underlying cause for joint pain but it may not always be diagnosed.

I have poly-arthralgia which means pain in multiple joints (poly meaning more than one), because of a medication I'm taking. It's one of the side effects that disappears when I stop taking it.

So it doesn't have to be because of injury or arthritis, I think those are just the most common causes. I'm sure it can be caused by many other things though.

Is it possible to have arthralgia without injury or arthritis?

I've been having chronic pain in my ankles for the past couple of years. I've gotten blood work done several times in this time period which showed no signs of arthritis. I've also not had any accident or injury prior to this.

My doctor has no idea what is causing the pain and sends me home with pain relievers and creams every time. I'm baffled about what to do.

Are arthralgia symptoms always linked to a specific cause or disease? Is it possible to develop chronic arthralgia without a known cause?

And what does polyarthralgia mean?