Covid-19 Long-Term Effects on The Joints

If you have been infected with the virus that causes covid-19, you can experience long-term effects from the infection, and this is known as post covid conditions or post covid syndrome. The post covid conditions can include a wide range of new conditions you had before the coronavirus infections or new infections you developed during the infection (1).

You are more at risk of post-covid-19 long-term effects if:

• You have other medical conditions you were managing before the infection such as diabetes mellitus, and HIV/AIDS.
• You are on drugs that can suppress your immunity before and during the infection. Such as corticosteroids.
• You had a poorly treated covid-19 infection.

Adults are more prone to post covid-19 long-term effects compared to children and teenagers. However, anyone who got infected with the covid-19 infection is at risk of the long-term effects irrespective of age.

What Are the Long-Term Effects Of Covid-19?

The long-term effects of covid-19 vary depending on your immunity before the infection. The possible long-term effects are:

General Side Effects. The general side effects are:

• Body weakness
• Fever
• Loss of appetite

Cardiovascular Effects. Covid-19 has these long-term effects on your heart:

• Cough
• Difficulty in breathing
• Fast heart beats

Neurological Effects. Covid-19 has these long-term effects on your brain:

• Headache
• Blurriness of vision
• Inability to sleep
• Mental health issues like anxiety and depression
• Loss of sense organs like the sense of taste and sense of smell.

Musculoskeletal Effects. Covid-19 has the following long-term effects on your joints and muscles:

• Joint pain
• Muscle pain
• Muscle stiffness
• Joint swelling (2).

Covid-19 Long-Term Effects on The Joints.

If you had the covid-19 infection, you are at risk of the long-term effects on your joints even after recovering from the infection. You may also experience joint weakness and joint pain (4).

Studies have shown that you may feel joint pain for up to six months or more after the covid-19 infection. You may experience pain in more than one joint of your body such as the knee, or the proximal interphalangeal joints. Others are the foot, shoulder, and ankle joints (7).

These are reasons for the joint pain effects you may feel after covid-19:

1. Arthritis

When you have a covid-19 infection, your body releases substances known as inflammatory markers due to the inflammation effect of the covid-19 on your lungs, muscles, and skeleton. This substance leads to the development of inflammation in your joints whose medical term is arthritis, and you start to manifest signs of arthritis such as joint pain, joint swelling, fever, and lots more (5).

2. Steroids

Corticosteroids are one of the drugs you will be given for the treatment of covid-19 infection. Just as the drug is beneficial in the management of the covid-19 infection, however, the adverse effects affect the joints such as muscle atrophy, weakness of the muscle and joints, and consequently resulting in pains in the joint (5).

3. Inactivity 

You are at risk of joint pain as a long-term effect of covid-19 if you stayed long in an admission bed in the hospital due to a severe infection. The majority of this pain may resolve with time, but you might be unfortunate to have some pains that won’t go away in time (3).

4. Side effects of vaccination

One of the mild side effects of the covid-19 vaccine is joint pain. Especially radiating from the site of infection. And this is true of all vaccines as confirmed by the FDA. This side effect of joint pain is not usually alarming because most times it shows that your body is developing protection against the infection. It is also associated with muscle pain and fatigue (6).

How To Deal with Joint Pain After Covid-19

The best remedy for joint pain after covid-19 is a home remedy. The remedies listed below are the best for joint pain as a long-term effect of covid-19:

1. Rice Principle

RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation

Your therapist will advise you on resting the affected joints and avoid mobilizing the joints to relieve the pain. Ice may also be applied to the affected joint as prescribed by your therapists to aid recovery and relieve you of the pain. Cold or hot compression and elevation can also be applied based on the prescription by your therapist.

2. Physical Therapy

Different kinds of physical therapies will help to relieve your joint pain.

• Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (Tens): Your therapist will fix an electrode-equipped TENS unit for your skin. The neurological system is then overloaded by electrical currents from the device through the skin, which impairs its ability to convey pain signals.

• Manual Therapy: Your Physical therapists will use manual therapy to help maintain the suppleness and flexibility of your joints. And your therapist will also prescribe the right exercise for you

• Thermotherapy: Using heat and cold to relieve joint pain and stiffness. A hot water bottle wrapped in a towel and applied to your affected joint will also help you relieve the joint pain (9).

3. Medication

For your joint pain after covid-19, you can use pain-relieving medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen, especially when you have mild to moderate joint pain (7).

4. Joint Pain Supplement

If you still struggle with your joint pain after covid-19 infection, you can try a natural joint supplement, like JointFuel360, produced to help ease your joint pains and improve your movement. 

JointFuel360 contains turmeric, a known natural anti-inflammatory, as long as Boswellia Serrata, Hyaluronic Acid, and Resveratrol, making this a natural supplement with a powerful formula against joint inflammation.

You should see a doctor if your joint pain is not getting better so that you can further be investigated for better management (8).

It’s always recommended to visit a doctor and ask all the questions you may have, here you can see the recommendations to take the best out of your appointment. What to ask your doctor?