Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disorder of joints which results from the breakdown and loss of cartilage. This disease can affect joints of spine, feet, hands and large weight-bearing joints like knees and hips. The symptoms of osteoarthritis may vary from patient to patient and they may be mild or severe. Pain, swelling, tenderness and stiffness of the joints are the most common symptoms of osteoarthritis.

The symptoms of osteoarthritis may depend on the joints involved. Osteoarthritis starts in one or two joints, usually in the weight-bearing joints such as hips, knee and spine. As the development of this disease is slow, there may be no symptoms or mild symptoms in the early stage. Due to degeneration of cartilage, there may be inflammation in the joints. With the progression of disease, the patient may experience pain, discomfort, swelling and stiffness in the joints especially early in the morning, while some people experience contraction in the tendons and muscle spasm. If the disease worsens, there may be development of some deformities in the joints leading to restriction in mobility.

Grinding or cracking noise within the joint is one of the significant symptoms of osteoarthritis. Due to loss of cartilage, there is friction between the bones resulting in the cracking noise. An inflammation of cartilage can cause bony outgrowths around the joints due to which the bones rub on one another and create a creaking noise.

In osteoarthritis of hips, there is pain in the inner thigh, groin or buttock because of which the patient feels difficulty in walking as well as difficulty in daily work like getting into the car or putting on shoes.

The knee osteoarthritis features the catching or grating sensation while moving the knee. The patient feels weakness in the thighs and faces the difficulty in walking up and down stairs or getting up from the chair due to restricted mobility of the joints. There may be swelling and crunching feel in the knee. Due to excessive growth of the bone, there may be enlargement of the joint.

The patient suffers from swelling, redness and tenderness in the finger joints which are enlarged and create a gnarled appearance due to the bony growth. These nodes affect the mobility of the joints which is more common in women than in men.

In the osteoarthritis of spine, there is slow deterioration of disks between the bones along the spine which results in pain and stiffness in neck and back. The weight-bearing joints like feet, knees and hips are more susceptible to osteoarthritis which may cause severe pain in the joints and difficulty in standing and walking.

As the diagnosis is based on the symptoms of osteoarthritis and medical history of the patient, it is very essential to understand these characteristic warning signs.