I experience muscle or joint stiffness when I wake up – what can I do about it?

• Inflammatory arthritis: this differs from osteoarthritis in its origin, which is fundamentally inflammatory and immunological. Osteoarthritis always has a mechanical basis, accompanied by an inflammatory component of varying severity. Other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, can cause even more severe and persistent stiffness upon waking.

• Fibromyalgia: this is a chronic condition that causes stiffness and widespread pain, including muscle and joint tension upon waking. It also causes intense fatigue, which can contribute to increased musculoskeletal discomfort. It should be noted that this condition is six times more common in women than in men (10).

• Certain endocrine disorders, in particular hypothyroidism. The latter tends to contribute to diffuse muscle pain and joint discomfort, which are more noticeable in the morning. It may also be a case of adrenal insufficiency, associated with a cortisol deficiency and therefore increased inflammatory sensitivity.

Muscle soreness is pain when the muscle is compressed, contracted or stretched.

Muscle soreness is pain affecting a muscle or muscle group, not a joint. It occurs some time after intense physical exercise. It is a sign that your muscle has been subjected to greater mechanical stress than it is used to. Muscle soreness is a biological response designed to aid recovery and adaptation to the exertion.

Signs suggesting muscle soreness (1):

• The pain sets in around 24 hours after intense physical activity

• It peaks over the first 3 days before gradually subsiding

• The discomfort increases when you contract or stretch your muscles

• Movement in the affected area becomes weaker and has a reduced range of motion.

Good to know: contrary to popular belief, muscle soreness is not simply a matter of inflammation. Several mechanisms are thought to be at play, in which the inflammatory response may indeed play a part, but there are also hypotheses that it may be caused by alterations in connective tissue or nerve sensitisation (2).

Intense and prolonged morning stiffness is more typical of an inflammatory condition, while morning stiffness that subsides quickly with movement is more typical of a mechanical condition.

Joint stiffness, as the name suggests, affects your joints rather than your muscles. It makes you feel like the affected joint is locked or stiff. This phenomenon is sometimes accompanied by pain, but not always. Research distinguishes between two clinical profiles with slightly different symptoms: mechanical versus inflammatory.

Here are a few clues to help distinguish between mechanical stiffness and inflammatory stiffness:

• Joint stiffness of a mechanical nature is characteristic of osteoarthritis. It occurs after a period of inactivity, for example after a night’s sleep, which may explain why you wake up feeling achy all over. The discomfort lasts for an average of 30 minutes upon waking and disappears very quickly as soon as the body starts moving.

• Inflammatory joint stiffness is characteristic of inflammatory joint diseases. The stiffness reaches its peak upon waking (3); it may persist for up to an hour afterwards. It also subsides with movement, though this usually takes around ten minutes. Rest is not always enough to alleviate it. On the contrary, joint pain may sometimes be felt well before waking up, during the night.

In practice, distinguishing between the two is not always so straightforward, and mechanical joint pain may also have an inflammatory component.