The onset of the condition is usually gradual, although some cases may appear suddenly following trauma.

- Knee pain - the most common symptom is diffuse peripatellar pain (vague pain around the kneecap) and localized retropatellar pain (pain focused behind the kneecap). Affected individuals typically have difficulty describing the location of the pain, and may place their hands over the anterior patella or describe a circle around the patella (the "circle sign"). Pain is usually initiated when load is put on the knee extensor mechanism, e.g. ascending or descending stairs or slopes, squatting, kneeling, cycling, running or prolonged sitting with flexed (bent) knees. The latter feature is sometimes termed the "movie sign" or "theatre sign" because individuals might experience pain while sitting to watch a film or similar activity. The pain is typically aching with occasional sharp pains.

- Crepitus (joint noises) may be present

- Giving-way of the knee may be reported

Chondromalacia patellae is a term sometimes treated synonymously with PFPS. However, there is general consensus that PFPS applies only to individuals without cartilage damage, thereby distinguishing it from chondromalacia patellae, a condition characterized by softening of the patellar articular cartilage. Despite this academic distinction, the diagnosis of PFPS is typically made clinically, based only on the history and physical examination rather than on the results of any medical imaging. Therefore, it is unknown whether most persons with a diagnosis of PFPS have cartilage damage or not, making the difference between PFPS and chondromalacia theoretical rather than practical. It is thought that only some individuals with anterior knee pain will have true chondromalacia patellae.

Osgood–Schlatter disease causes pain in the front lower part of the knee. This is usually at the ligament-bone junction of the patellar ligament and the tibial tuberosity. The tibial tuberosity is a slight elevation of bone on the anterior and proximal portion of the tibia. The patellar tendon attaches the anterior quadriceps muscles to the tibia via the knee cap.

Intense knee pain is usually the presenting symptom that occurs during activities such as running, jumping, squatting, and especially ascending or descending stairs and during kneeling. The pain is worse with acute knee impact. The pain can be reproduced by extending the knee against resistance, stressing the quadriceps, or striking the knee. Pain is initially mild and intermittent. In the acute phase, the pain is severe and continuous in nature. Impact of the affected area can be very painful. Bilateral symptoms are observed in 20–30% of people.

Symptoms can vary from aches or pains and local joint stiffness, to a burning that surrounds the whole joint around the inflamed tendon. In some cases, swelling occurs along with heat and redness, and there may be visible knots surrounding the joint. With this condition, the pain is usually worse during and after activity, and the tendon and joint area can become stiff the following day as muscles tighten from the movement of the tendon. Many patients report stressful situations in their life in correlation with the beginnings of pain which may contribute to the symptoms.

If the symptoms of tendinitis last for several months (6 months) or longer, it is probably tendinosis.

Jumper's knee (patellar tendinopathy, patellar tendinosis, patellar tendinitis) commonly occurs in athletes who are involved in jumping sports such as basketball and volleyball. Patients report anterior knee pain, often with an aching quality. The symptom onset is insidious. Rarely is a discrete injury described. Usually, involvement is infrapatellar at or near the infrapatellar pole, but it may also be suprapatellar.

Depending on the duration of symptoms, jumper's knee can be classified into 1 of 4 stages, as follows:

Stage 1 – Pain only after activity, without functional impairment

Stage 2 – Pain during and after activity, although the patient is still able to perform satisfactorily in his or her sport

Stage 3 – Prolonged pain during and after activity, with increasing difficulty in performing at a satisfactory level

Stage 4 – Complete tendon tear requiring surgical repair

It begins as inflammation in the patellar tendon where it attaches to the patella and may progress by tearing or degenerating the tendon. Patients present with an ache over the patella tendon. Most patients are between 10 and 16 years old. Magnetic resonance imaging can reveal edema (increased T2 signal intensity) in the proximal aspect of the patellar tendon.

Osgood–Schlatter disease (OSD), also known as apophysitis of the tibial tubercle, is inflammation of the patellar ligament at the tibial tuberosity. It is characterized by a painful bump just below the knee that is worse with activity and better with rest. Episodes of pain typically last a few months. One or both knees may be affected and flares may recur.

Risk factors include overuse, especially sports which involve running or jumping. The underlying mechanism is repeated tension on the growth plate of the upper tibia. Diagnosis is typically based on the symptoms. A plain X-ray may be either normal or show fragmentation in the attachment area.

Pain typically resolves with time. Applying cold to the affected area, stretching, and strengthening exercises may help. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen may be used. Slightly less stressful activity may be recommended.

About 4% of people are affected at some point in time. Males between the ages of 10 and 15 are most often affected. After growth slows, typically age 16 in boys and 14 in girls, the pain will no longer occur despite a bump potentially remaining. The condition is named after Robert Bayley Osgood (1873–1956), an American orthopedic surgeon and Carl B. Schlatter, (1864–1934), a Swiss surgeon who described the condition independently in 1903.

Symptoms can vary from an ache or pain and swelling to the local area of the ankles, or a burning that surrounds the whole joint. With this condition, the pain is usually worse during and after activity, and the tendon and joint area can become stiffer the following day as swelling impinges on the movement of the tendon. Many patients report stressful situations in their lives in correlation with the beginnings of pain which may contribute to the symptoms.

People often describe pain as being “inside the knee cap.” The leg tends to flex even when relaxed. In some cases, the injured ligaments involved in patellar dislocation do not allow the leg to flex almost at all.

Subacromial bursitis often presents with a constellation of symptoms called impingement syndrome. Pain along the front and side of the shoulder is the most common symptom and may cause weakness and stiffness. If the pain resolves and weakness persists other causes should be evaluated such as a tear of the rotator cuff or a neurological problem arising from the neck or entrapment of the suprascapular nerve. The onset of pain may be sudden or gradual and may or may not be related to trauma. Night time pain, especially sleeping on the affected shoulder, is often reported. Localized redness or swelling are less common and suggest an infected subacromial bursa. Individuals affected by subacromial bursitis commonly present with concomitant shoulder problems such as arthritis, rotator cuff tendinitis, rotator cuff tears, and cervical radiculopathy (pinched nerve in neck).

Impingement may be brought on by sports activities, such as overhead throwing sports and swimming, or overhead work such as painting, carpentry, or plumbing. Activities that involve repetitive overhead activity, or directly in front, may cause shoulder pain. Direct upward pressure on the shoulder, such as leaning on an elbow, may increase pain.

Patients often complain of pain and swelling over the medial aspect of the knee joint. They may also report instability with side-to-side movement and during athletic performance that involves cutting or pivoting.

In some cases, an audible snapping or popping noise as the tendon at the hip flexor crease moves from flexion (knee toward waist) to extension (knee down and hip joint straightened). After extended exercise pain or discomfort may be present caused by inflammation of the iliopsoas bursae. Pain often decreases with rest and diminished activity. Symptoms usually last months or years without treatment and can be very painful.

Many rotator cuff tears are asymptomatic. They are known to increase in frequency with age and the most common cause is age-related degeneration and, less frequently, sports injuries or trauma. Both partial and full thickness tears have been found on "post mortem" and MRI studies in those without any history of shoulder pain or symptoms. However, the most common presentation is shoulder pain or discomfort. This may occur with activity, particularly shoulder activity above the horizontal position, but may also be present at rest in bed. Pain-restricted movement above the horizontal position may be present, as well as weakness with shoulder flexion and abduction.

Symptoms may occur immediately after trauma (acute) or develop over time (chronic).

Acute injury is less frequent than chronic disease, but may follow bouts of forcefully raising the arm against resistance, as occurs in weightlifting, for example. In addition, falling forcefully on the shoulder can cause acute symptoms. These traumatic tears predominantly affect the supraspinatus tendon or the rotator interval and symptoms include severe pain that radiates through the arm, and limited range of motion, specifically during abduction of the shoulder.

Chronic tears occur among individuals who constantly participate in overhead activities, such as pitching or swimming, but can also develop from shoulder tendinitis or rotator cuff disease. Symptoms arising from chronic tears include sporadic worsening of pain, debilitation, and atrophy of the muscles, noticeable pain during rest, crackling sensations (crepitus) when moving the shoulder, and inability to move or lift the arm sufficiently, especially during abduction and flexion motions.

Pain in the anterolateral aspect of the shoulder is not specific to the shoulder, and may arise from, and be referred from, the neck, heart or gut.

Patient history will often include pain or ache over the front and outer aspect of the shoulder, pain aggravated by leaning on the elbow and pushing upwards on the shoulder (such as leaning on the armrest of a reclining chair), intolerance of overhead activity, pain at night when lying directly on the affected shoulder, pain when reaching forward (e.g. unable to lift a gallon of milk from the refrigerator). Weakness may be reported, but is often masked by pain and is usually found only through examination. With longer-standing pain, the shoulder is favored and gradually loss of motion and weakness may develop, which, due to pain and guarding, are often unrecognized by the patient and only brought to attention during examination.

Primary shoulder problems may cause pain over the deltoid muscle intensified by abduction against resistance - the impingement sign. This signifies pain arising from the rotator cuff, but cannot distinguish between inflammation, strain, or tear. Patients may report that they are unable to reach upwards to brush their hair or to lift a food can from an overhead shelf.

Tendinitis injuries are common in the upper shoulder and lower section of the elbow (including the rotator cuff attachments), and are less common in the hips and torso. Individual variation in frequency and severity of tendinitis will vary depending on the type, frequency and severity of exercise or use; for example, rock climbers tend to develop tendinitis in their fingers or elbows, swimmers in their shoulders. Achilles tendinitis is a common injury, particularly in sports that involve lunging and jumping, while Patellar tendinitis is a common among basketball and volleyball players owing to the amount of jumping and landing.

A veterinary equivalent to Achilles tendinitis is bowed tendon, tendinitis of the superficial digital tendon of the horse.

Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a condition in which the outer part of the elbow becomes sore and tender at the lateral epicondyle. The forearm muscles and tendons become damaged from repetitive overuse. This leads to pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow.

Any activity, including playing tennis, that involves repetitive use of the extensor muscles of the forearm can cause acute or chronic tendonitis of the tendinous insertion of these muscles at the lateral epicondyle of the elbow. The condition is common in carpenters and laborers who swing a hammer or other tool with the forearm, and is similar to golfer's elbow, which affects the medial epicondyle on the inside of the elbow. Continuing activity after onset of the condition and avoiding mandatory rest may lead to permanent onset of pain and only treatable via surgery.

Infrapatellar bursitis is the inflammation of one or both of the infrapatellar bursa, which are located just below the kneecap. Symptoms of bursitis commonly include swelling and knee pain. Bursitis often develops gradually over a period of days to even months but may develop more rapidly, especially in the event of trauma or infection.

Bursitis affecting the superficial infrapatellar bursa is an occupational hazard of persons whose work involves kneeling on hard surfaces. Depending on the occupation affected it is known by a variety of nicknames, most commonly floor layers' knee, but also plumbers' knee, clergyman's knee, or housewife's knee (prepatellar bursitis).

The deep infrapatellar bursa occasionally also become inflamed, swollen, and painful. Bursitis in the deep infrapatellar bursa usually develops from chronic overuse of the knee extensor tendon (patellar tendon) as can occur with repetitive flexing of the knee under pressure in work duties or exercise. Examples might include climbing stairs, jumping, or deep knee bends.

Enthesopathies may take the form of spondyloarthropathies (joint diseases of the spine) such as ankylosing spondylitis, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendinitis. Enthesopathy can occur at the elbow, wrist, carpus, hip, knee, ankle, tarsus, or heel bone, among other regions. Further examples include:

- Adhesive capsulitis of shoulder

- Rotator cuff syndrome of shoulder and allied disorders

- Periarthritis of shoulder

- Scapulohumeral fibrositis

- Synovitis of hand or wrist

- Periarthritis of wrist

- Gluteal tendinitis

- Iliac crest spur

- Psoas tendinitis

- Trochanteric tendinitis

Achilles tendinitis is tendinitis of the Achilles tendon, generally caused by overuse of the affected limb and is more common among athletes training under less than ideal conditions. It should not be confused with xanthoma of the tendon, which is the accumulation of cholesterol in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia.

As the name implies, movement of the shoulder is severely restricted in people with a "frozen shoulder". This condition, which doctors call adhesive capsulitis, is frequently caused by injury that leads to lack of use due to pain. Rheumatic disease progression and recent shoulder surgery can also cause frozen shoulder. Intermittent periods of use may cause inflammation. Adhesions (abnormal bands of tissue) grow between the joint surfaces, restricting motion. There is also a lack of synovial fluid, which normally lubricates the gap between the arm bone and socket to help the shoulder joint move. It is this restricted space between the capsule and ball of the humerus that distinguishes adhesive capsulitis from a less complicated painful, stiff shoulder. People with diabetes, stroke, lung disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease, or who have been in an accident, are at a higher risk for frozen shoulder. The condition rarely appears in people under the age of 40.

A predisposing factor is tightness in the tensor fasciae latae muscle and iliotibial tract in combination with a quadriceps imbalance between the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis muscles can play a large role. However individuals with larger Q angles are genetically more predisposed to this type of injury due to the increased lateral angle at which the femur and tibia meet.

Another cause of patellar symptoms is "lateral patellar compression syndrome", which can be caused from lack of balance or inflammation in the joints. The pathophysiology of the kneecap is complex, and deals with the osseous soft tissue or abnormalities within the patellofemoral groove. The patellar symptoms cause knee extensor dysplasia, and sensitive small variations affect the muscular mechanism that controls the joint movements.

24% of people whose patellas have dislocated have relatives who have experienced patellar dislocations.

Jacobson previously described the common problems to medial knee surgery. It was stressed that adequate diagnosis is imperative and all possible injuries should be evaluated and addressed intraoperatively. Damage to the saphenous nerve and its infrapatellar branch is possible during medial knee surgery, potentially causing numbness or pain over the medial knee and leg. As with all surgeries, there is a risk of bleeding, wound problems, deep vein thrombosis, and infection that can complicate the outcome and rehabilitation process. The long term complication of arthrofibrosis and heterotopic ossification (Pellegrini-Stieda syndrome) are problems that are best addressed with early range of motion and following defined rehabilitation protocols. Failure of graft due to intrinsic mechanical forces should be prevented with preoperative alignment assessment (osteotomy treatment) and proper rehabilitation.

An individual may feel or hear a "pop" in their knee during a twisting movement or rapid deceleration, followed by an inability to continue participation in the sport and early swelling from hemarthrosis. This combination is said to indicate a 90% probability of rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament.

An individual may experience instability in the knee once they resume walking and other activities, and they may feel their knee is "giving out". Loss of full range of motion, and discomfort along the joint line are also common symptoms of an ACL injury.

Symptoms associated with tennis elbow include, but are not limited to: radiating pain from the outside of the elbow to the forearm and wrist, pain during extension of wrist, weakness of the forearm, a painful grip while shaking hands or torquing a doorknob, and not being able to hold relatively heavy items in the hand. The pain is similar to the condition known as "golfer's elbow", but the latter occurs at the medial side of the elbow.

Patellar tendinitis (patellar tendinopathy, also known as jumper's knee), is a relatively common cause of pain in the inferior patellar region in athletes. It is common with frequent jumping and studies have shown it may be associated with stiff ankle movement and ankle sprains.

Knee pain is pain in or around the knee.

The knee joint consists of an articulation between four bones: the femur, tibia, fibula and patella. There are four compartments to the knee. These are the medial and lateral tibiofemoral compartments, the patellofemoral compartment and the superior tibiofibular joint. The components of each of these compartments can suffer from repetitive strain, injury or disease.

Running long distance can cause pain to the knee joint, as it is high-impact exercise.