Here is the common symptoms of arthritis. This does not mean you have it. If one of the symptoms are involved in could mean other things such as getting older. For example my legs get stiff all the time but I do not have arthritis in it, but I do have arthritis in my shoulder.
The symptoms of arthritis are:
Joint pain: use ice and heat
Joint stiffness: It is one thing of getting older and your joints stiffen up. You want to start stretching as much as you can. Stretch from all angles. From forward to backward and left to right.
Tenderness around the joint.
Limited range of motion: The worse thing you can do is "baby" it. Stretch your body part. The main thing is move it, but do not move it where you feel absolute pain.
