Joint stiffness

Category: Muscles, Bones & Joints · All muscles & joints symptoms

What it can feel like

Joint stiffness means a joint needs time and movement to free up — most noticeable first thing in the morning or after sitting. It is the sensation of the joint being 'gummed up', and its duration is one of the most useful numbers in joint medicine.

Possible causes

A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.

Common causes

Joint stiffness can be associated with osteoarthritis (typically easing within about 30 minutes of moving), inactivity, cold weather, and recovery after injury, surgery or immobilisation in a cast.

Other possible causes

Stiffness lasting an hour or more, or stiffness with swelling, can be associated with inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis, and stiffness of the shoulders and hips in people over 50 can reflect polymyalgia rheumatica.

Red flags — when to seek help promptly

Stiffness with a hot, swollen joint and fever — urgent
Stiffness lasting hours each morning, with swelling of the small joints of the hands
Shoulder and hip stiffness over the age of 50 with scalp tenderness or jaw pain when chewing
Stiffness after an injury that is not improving with movement

What a clinician may do

A clinician will time the morning stiffness with you, examine the joints for swelling, and arrange inflammation blood tests where indicated. Movement is treatment for most stiffness; inflammatory patterns may need anti-inflammatory or disease-modifying medicines via rheumatology.

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Frequently asked questions

Why does moving help stiffness?

Joint fluid is thixotropic — it thins as it warms and moves, like gel liquefying when stirred. Gentle movement also pumps fluid into the cartilage. That is why 'motion is lotion' for stiff joints, and why stiffness that improves with activity differs from damage that worsens with it.

What is polymyalgia rheumatica?

An inflammatory condition of people over 50 causing aching and marked morning stiffness around the shoulders and hips, typically with raised inflammation markers. It responds dramatically to steroids — but it overlaps with temporal arteritis, so new cases are assessed for headache, scalp and visual symptoms.

Related symptoms — Muscles, Bones & Joints

A joint that locks or gives way Aching and stiffness in the shoulders and hips Aching muscles Ankle pain Back pain Elbow pain

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Please note: This page is educational information about a symptom. A symptom alone cannot diagnose any condition, and the causes listed here are possibilities, not a diagnosis. If you are worried about a symptom — especially one that is new, severe, getting worse or not going away — please see your own clinician, who can examine you and arrange tests. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.