Ever wonder if the joint aches you get with your microscopic colitis will over time cause damage to your joints, possibly weakening them or making them permanently stiff?
“Joint pain” doesn’t always mean damage or degeneration to the joints, and this includes in microscopic colitis.
When you hear or see the words “joint pain,” do you automatically think of gnarled fingers and a compromised ability to unscrew jar lids, carry a suitcase, tie a knot or handle a bowling ball?
Joint pain is one of several symptoms that can result from microscopic colitis.
It can also result from an injured tendon, worn-down cartilage, torn ligaments and rheumatoid disease. And premenstrual syndrome.
“At present, we do not know enough about microscopic colitis to understand how it affects the joints, but we know joint aches often accompany the disease,” says Jeffrey Fine, MD, chief of gastroenterology at the Medical Surgical Clinic of Irving.
Aches vs. Pain
Dr. Fine explains: “The type and intensity of joint aches can vary greatly from patient to patient, with a wide variety of contributing factors, such as age, diet, exercise, stress, etc.
However, there is research that suggests certain types of arthritis, like enteropathic arthritis, may be a manifestation of microscopic colitis, and enteropathic arthritis is considered nondestructive.
In these cases, once the underlying microscopic colitis has been treated effectively, the joint aches associated with it are resolved.”
Don’t let the term “arthritis” trick you into thinking this necessarily means the deformed fingers you’ve seen in people with arthritis. Don’t let those pharma TV commercials about arthritis mislead you, either.
“Arth” refers to joints, and “itis” means inflammation.
In microscopic colitis, there may be an inflammatory process occurring in the region of the joints.
This process is NOT the same as the one that occurs in, for example, rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis.
“Arthritis” is a general or catch-all term that can have many meanings to the layperson, and numerous etiologies that result in different types or experiences of discomfort.
In the midst of the joint aches I’ve had from my own microscopic colitis, I have carried out intense and heavy weight lifting—without any deficits in performance.
In fact, rigorous use of my joints (deadlift, bench press, squat, kicking a heavybag, etc.) suppressed the achy feeling that was being generated from microscopic colitis.
