What Are Body Aches And Why Do They Happen?
Have you ever been sitting by yourself and felt a random ache or pain in your body?
Maybe a shooting pain that comes from your leg, or a sharp stab in your chest cavity?
Most people consider these pains to just be passing things.
They don’t need to worry about them. Sometimes, though, body aches become more consistent.
If you're shooting leg pain becomes a constant, dull ache, you might want to get it checked out. It can be a sign of something more serious.
Almost everyone experiences body aches at some point in their lives. The problems emerge when these aches and pains become constant. In this case, you’re probably looking at a more serious illness.
What Are The Main Causes of Body Pain?
Body aches can be caused by any number of different ailments.
They might be nothing serious - just pains from natural age-related damage. They can be indicators of something more serious - depression, illness, injuries that you’re not aware of, or other ailments.
There are a lot of diseases and maladies in the world.
Many of these cause body aches and pains, and sometimes these are the first symptoms that emerge.
If you experience body aches and pains and aren't having any other symptoms, you might want to go to the doctor and check out your vitals.
We’ve compiled the 12 most common reasons behind constant body aches, so read on if you’d like to learn why you might want to get your body ache checked out.
Top 12 Reasons of Constant Body Ache That You Should Not Ignore
1. You’re depressed
Depression is a mood disorder that is often revealed by constant fatigue, low motivation, sadness, and bad sleep.
Depression can also make itself known by causing constant aches and pains that aren’t caused by other physical symptoms.(1)
Depression can have a number of physical side effects. Chest pains, hot flashes, muscle aches, and trembling all side effects of depression.
If you match the other symptoms of depression, you might want to get checked out by a doctor.
2. You have a fibromyalgia syndrome
Fibromyalgia is an illness marked by chronic pain throughout the body.(2)
It primarily affects muscles and nerves. It’s not the same as the pain caused by arthritis, which is felt in between the joints.
Fibromyalgia mostly affects what are known as tender points.
These include your neck, your hips, and the arms and legs.
Headaches are also common for patients with fibromyalgia. Since it affects only sensitive areas, it can have a negative effect on your daily life.
3. It is rheumatism
Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that can cause a number of painful symptoms. It can cause stiffness, swelling, and deformed joints.(3)
These can be extremely painful if it gets out of control.
Rheumatism is caused by inflammation and must be treated before it gets out of hand.
It can be crippling to daily life if it’s not treated and can cause irreversible damage, particularly in the fingers and other parts of the hand.
Having these joints and muscles damaged makes it hard to do almost anything.
4. You’re suffering from anemia
Anemia is a condition caused by a deficiency of iron.(4)
The body isn’t able to produce enough red blood cells or hemoglobin, which means that oxygen can’t be transported to the rest of the body efficiently.
Some of the signs and symptoms of anemia can be quite painful. Aside from common symptoms like fatigue, it causes headaches, numbness in the hands and feet, and chest pain.
This can affect your life in a number of ways.
Since your body isn’t transporting oxygen properly, almost every system in your body will be negatively affected.
5. You’re dehydrated
Dehydration occurs when the body doesn’t absorb enough water.
This can adversely affect every organ system in the body since we rely so heavily on hydration to function.(5)
There are lots of symptoms of dehydration, and among these are muscle pains and aches. These are caused by muscles not being lubricated enough to contract properly.
Dehydration can affect your entire body and make it difficult to function. Other symptoms include fatigue and weakness, which can make daily life difficult.
6. You’re calcium deficient
Calcium deficiency is quite common. For those who don’t get enough calcium in their diet, the symptoms can become quite severe.(6)
Sore muscles are a very common symptom of calcium deficiency. Your muscles can’t function properly without calcium.
Replenishing your blood calcium level will usually make this symptom go away. There also may be symptoms of burning or prickling.
Having weak muscle function can inhibit your ability to move and carry things. This can inhibit your ability to work or exercise.
7. You’re not getting enough vitamin D
Vitamin D deficiency is common, especially in those who don’t go outside often.
The body is able to turn sunlight into vitamin D when it strikes the skin, and those who don’t get sunlight often don’t get enough vitamin D.(7)
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to causing chronic pain. It can also cause weakness and fatigue, among tons of other symptoms.
Supplementing with vitamin D can remove these symptoms, which can be debilitating towards living a normal life.
The list of symptoms of vitamin D deficiency is so long that someone can find it difficult to live a proper routine.
8. It could be gastroenteritis
Viral gastroenteritis is an inflammation that occurs in the lining of the stomach and intestines.(8)
It can be caused by a number of viruses and is extremely common.
Many people don’t realize that their body pains can be caused by gastroenteritis. Typically, the disease heals itself without too many major complications.
The common symptoms, aside from diarrhea and vomiting, include headaches and abdominal pain.
These can be repetitive and occur with each instance the virus strikes. Dehydration is a common cause of gastroenteritis.
The disease can make it difficult to function at work or school.
9. It may be due to poor metabolic health
Metabolic syndrome covers a group of factors that all increase your risk of diabetes and strokes.(9)
Your metabolism is your body’s ability to convert food into energy and how quickly your body excretes toxins.
Symptoms of metabolic syndrome include soreness of the muscles, weakness, and fatigue.
Since your body isn’t able to absorb nutrients properly. This makes it difficult to get stronger, to produce energy, and to fight off toxins and viruses.
10. It could be atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which the walls of the arteries begin to harden, often caused by plaque hardening in the endothelium (arterial walls).(10)
Among other symptoms, atherosclerosis causes pain. The pain in the chest is most common, but anywhere that arteries harden can experience pain.
It limits the ability to transport blood and nutrients throughout your body and can cause weakness, headaches, and numbness.
Atherosclerosis hugely increases the risk of developing other cardiac diseases. It raises the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, kidney disease, and tons of other life-threatening illnesses.
If you experience constant chest pains, you must go to your doctor to make sure you don’t have atherosclerosis.
11. You have more than normal uric acid
Uric acid is necessary for the human body.
It travels through the bloodstream and helps with bodily functions. However, when uric acid levels get too high, they can form crystal deposits in the spaces between joints.
High uric acid occurs when the body consumes too many purines, which the body breaks down into uric acid. Things high in purines are meat, fish, beans, and alcohol.
This causes inflammation, swelling, and hinders the range of motion. These symptoms can be quite painful and can prevent someone from living a normal life.
The most commonly inflamed areas are in the large toes, ankles, wrists, fingers and knees.
High uric acid is known as gout. An inflammation attack is known as a gouty arthritis attack, and patients often find this pain to be unbearable. They can’t stand or walk when the pain affects their lower extremities.
12. It could be malnutrition
Malnutrition is a condition that can cause a huge number of symptoms in the human body. Since you’re not getting enough nutrition, you risk running the symptoms of any individual vitamin or nutrient deficiency.
These include deficiencies of vitamins - vitamin A is a prime example, or minerals like iron, or even protein and fiber.
People can still suffer from malnutrition even if they get enough calories. If the food they eat isn’t healthy, they won’t get the proper amount of vitamins.
Among these symptoms, of course, is the pain.
Pain can be caused by deficiencies of protein, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and other nutrients.
You may also experience fatigue, trouble concentrating, headaches, bloating, weakness and learning problems.
All these problems make it very difficult to live a normal life.
When you’re plagued with constant pain it becomes difficult to follow a standard routine because you’re focusing on relieving the pain.
If you can’t find a reason for your body aches, consider getting your nutrition check up on by a doctor.
Conclusion:
Body aches come for a lot of different reasons.
Sometimes these reasons can be difficult to identify, so instead of ignoring them, it’s healthier to go and see a doctor.
Body aches can be nothing, but they can also indicate serious health problems that need to be addressed.