The symptoms of OA often start out mild and get worse. This is because joint damage is frequently made worse by use of the joint and it is difficult to stop using a joint entirely. In some people the joint damage progresses quickly, but for most people it develops gradually over years. The symptoms of OA may be mild with little effect on your day-to-day life or they may cause significant pain and disability.

The most commonly reported symptoms are pain and stiffness in the joint which tend to be worse during or after use of the joint, especially early in the course of the disease. Later on, the pain may be present even when the joint is not used. Other common symptoms of OA include:

• joint tenderness
• loss of flexibility
• grating sensation when the joint is used
• bone spurs (hard lumps formed around the affected joint)
• swelling

The joints most commonly affected by OA are the fingertips, thumbs, neck, lower back, knees, and hips. The symptoms you experience depend somewhat on which joint is affected. OA rarely affects the jaw, shoulder, elbows, wrists, or ankles unless you have had an injury to one of those sites or you have a lifestyle that places a lot of stress on that particular joint.

In contrast to osteoarthritis, another type of arthritis called rheumatoid arthritis (RA) tends to affect several joints at once. The joint stiffness and pain in RA is worst in the morning after waking, instead of after use. RA symptoms tend to affect the smaller joints first: those of the wrists, hands, ankles and feet and then progresses to larger joints including the shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, jaw, and neck. The symptoms of RA tend to come and go, while OA pain tends to get steadily worse over time.