Occasionally OA develops in other joints or in a -different group of joints. The disease is so variable that it is difficult for a doctor to generalise. Pain and stiffness of the joints are the main symptoms. OA tends to creep up on you gradually increasing over a period of months or years. The pain tends to worsen on exercising the joint and at the end of the day.
Stiffness is bad after resting joints, but quickly works off.
The symptoms are usually variable, bad spells for a few weeks or months being broken by much better periods. There is often a little swelling of the joint, sometimes this is bony, sometimes it is fluid and may vary in degree. In a few cases more acute, constant pain develops and can affect the person at rest and at night, as well as during and after exercise. An X-ray is often taken and will show evidence of thinning of cartilage and the bone changes. There is no blood test for OA, although it is often helpful for a test to be done to help rule out other types of arthritis.