The hips, knees, spine, and shoulders are most commonly involved. This condition may also affect some finger joints, the joint at the base of the thumb, and the joint at the base of the big toe. Stiffness and joint deformity usually progress slowly without general body symptoms. RA is often accompanied by a general feeling of sickness, fatigue, weight loss, and fever. In the hip, DJD may produce pain around the groin or in the inner thigh.
Some people feel referred pain to the buttocks, the knee or along the side of the thigh.
Degenerative joint disease of the hip may cause a limp and may limit range of motion, for example making it difficult to spread the legs. Degenerative joint disease of the knees may produce pain and stiffness of the knee associated with a grating or catching sensation in the joint when it is moved. If the pain prevents you from moving or exercising your knee, the large muscles around the knee area will become weaker. Degenerative joint disease of the fingers may produce bony lumpiness around the joints of the finger and perhaps pain and stiffness of these joints as well. If spurs occur in the end joints of the fingers, they are called Heberden's nodes .