Snap! Crackle! Pop!

What's normal with our joints, and how to prevent pain and problems

- BY Patricia Varacallo

ADULTS TYPICALLY HAVE 206 bones and 350 joints, which are made of bones plus the tissues that hold the bones together: cartilage, tendons, ligaments and nerves. With so many moving parts working hard every day, it's no wonder that many people expe- rience pain, stiffness or soreness in one or more of these connections.

The smallest joint in the body is in the ear, and while it plays a crucial role in hearing, most of us aren't even aware it's there. The largest joint is the knee. Knees and other large joints like hips, shoulders and elbows are the ones that tend to become painful. We're often quick to blame joint pain or stiffness on getting older. But it's not just older folks who experience joint pain. Athletes and just plain everyday active people experience joint pain too. Besides aging, causes include overuse (example: osteoarthritis), inflammation (bursitis or tendonitis), injury (strains, sprains and fractures), and genetic or autoimmune conditions (lupus and rheumatoid arthritis).

“It’s perfectly normal for people to have occasional aches and pains in their joints,” says Kyle Ruygrok, a physical therapist with Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation in Houston. “Most problems in the joints are either from trauma or overuse.” And, he adds, many of those problems can be relieved simply by resting the following day to allow for recovery.