Eli5: why do muscles and joints ache or get stiff with age?
In: Biology
As for joints:
Bones are really hard so if two bones in a joint would touch each other while moving, they would ‘scratch’ and cause damage. To prevent this, our body puts a softer, protecting layer between two ‘touching’ bones. This layer is called cartilage. Cartilage is really great but it does accumulate damage over the years and unfortunately it’s unable to repair itself. (Because there are no blood vessels going through it). So older people usually have damaged cartilage in joints that have been used a lot over the years, causing pain.
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