Long Covid Joint and Muscle Pain: What to Log

Updated 29 Oct 2026

Aching joints and muscles with long COVID can move around, come and go, and flare after a busier day, which makes them hard to describe at an appointment.

This guide explains what to log about joint and muscle pain with long COVID: where it hurts, stiffness, activity before it, what helps, and the signs that need help.

Why log joint and muscle pain with long COVID

The NHS lists joint pain and aching muscles among symptoms of long COVID, together with pins and needles, and aches and pains in different parts of your body (NHS). It notes some symptoms may get better or come and go, and you can also get new symptoms you have not had before (NHS).

The NHS notes a GP may suggest that you keep a diary to monitor your symptoms and see what makes them better or worse (NHS). It also advises keeping a diary to track what makes your symptoms better or worse, called triggers (NHS). Pain is easier to discuss with a few weeks of entries.

The NHS notes the long COVID team will work with you to create a plan, which may include physiotherapy and exercises to help with breathing and muscle pain (NHS).

In Long Covid Journey, the Daily check-in holds a pain score beside energy and sleep.

How to log where and how much it hurts

Each day, note which joints or muscles hurt, and a score from 0 to 10. The NHS lists common types of joint pain, including knee, shoulder, hip, foot, hand, elbow and arm, and neck pain, and notes you might feel pain in one joint, or more than one at the same time (NHS joint pain page).

Write whether a joint looked swollen or felt warm, in your own words. The NHS joint pain page notes that symptoms such as a warm, swollen joint, or pain and stiffness in both sides of your body, can point to different causes, and advises: do not self-diagnose, see a GP if you're worried (NHS joint pain page).

Note morning stiffness and how long it lasts. The NHS advises seeing a GP if your joints are stiff for more than 30 minutes after waking up (NHS joint pain page).

Keep the words consistent from day to day, such as aching, sharp, or stiff, so entries are easy to compare.

In Long Covid Journey, the Daily Journal holds where it hurt and how it felt.

How to log activity beside the pain

The NHS notes you may find your symptoms get worse if you're stressed or have been more active (NHS). Log what you did on the day before a bad pain day as well as on the day itself: walking, chores, work, and stress.

The NHS advises getting up and moving around regularly or going for short walks if you can, but being careful when exercising and stopping if you have any symptoms (NHS). It advises not starting exercise again before talking to a GP or specialist (NHS). Log each walk with its length and how you felt after.

If pain comes with a crash after effort, see how to log post-exertional malaise across 48 hours.

After two or three weeks, compare pain days with the activity before them, and treat any pattern as a question for your care team.

In Long Covid Journey, the Flare Tracker marks a bad pain day with its date.

How to log what helps

The NHS advises using painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen if you have any muscle pain, and asking a pharmacist for advice on what to take (NHS). Log each dose with the time and the pain score one or two hours later.

The NHS joint pain page lists self-care such as trying to rest the affected joint, an ice pack wrapped in a towel on the painful area for up to 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours, and speaking to a pharmacist or GP about which painkiller to take (NHS joint pain page). It also advises not to completely stop moving the affected joint (NHS joint pain page). Note which of these you tried and what followed.

If you have physiotherapy, log each session and the exercises you were given, with how the pain was the next day. Bring questions to your physiotherapist rather than changing the plan yourself.

For dizziness on standing, see how to log orthostatic dizziness days. In Long Covid Journey, My Meds keeps each painkiller with its dates.

When to get help and what to bring

The NHS joint pain page advises an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111 if you have joint pain and the skin around it is swollen and feels hot, or if you have joint pain and feel generally unwell, have a high temperature, or feel hot, cold or shivery (NHS joint pain page). Get help first; log it later.

It advises going to A&E or calling 999 if you have very bad joint pain after a fall or injury, are unable to walk or put weight on a joint, your joint has moved out of place, or you have tingling or no feeling around the joint after an injury (NHS joint pain page). In the US, call 911 or go to the ER for these signs, and use urgent care or your primary care doctor where the NHS mentions a GP.

The NHS advises seeing a GP if the pain or swelling is getting worse or keeps coming back, or has not improved after treating it at home for 2 weeks (NHS joint pain page). Bring a summary: weeks logged, pain days per week, which joints or muscles, stiffness, activity before bad days, and what helped.

If the cause is still open, see what to track while long COVID is still uncertain. In Long Covid Journey, the Doctor Report builds a dated summary for a saved doctor.

How Long Covid Journey can help

A notebook can hold one bad day. The harder part is keeping pain, activity, medicines, and other symptoms in one dated record.

Long Covid Journey is a personal long COVID tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. It records symptoms, activity, medicines, and visits in one dated history. Below is what you can use and how each part helps:

• Daily check-in — A short guided pass across symptoms, mood, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, and external factors, including fatigue, breathlessness, and brain fog, so links you would not remember on your own show up side by side.
• Daily Journal — Freer notes, including voice on foggy or low-energy days, that add detail a score alone cannot show.
• Flare Tracker — Mark a crash day, so you can tell a one-off bad day from a repeating pattern after effort.
• My Meds — Medicine names and timing, so you can line up a start date or dose change with symptom days.
• My Labs — Result dates for blood tests, heart and lung checks, and other tests, so each result sits next to how you felt that month.
• Weekly Goals — Set one small aim, such as a regular bedtime or a paced walk, and see whether it held and whether symptoms changed.
• Learn — Short education topics on long COVID themes such as pacing, sleep, breathing, and visit preparation.
• AI companions — Clara and specialist companions already see your logged history, which helps with pacing ideas or visit wording.
• My Care Team — A profile for each clinician, plus upcoming appointments and notes for each visit, used before, during, and after appointments.
• Doctor Report — Two views: the Appointment Planning Report helps you prepare what to ask, and Generate Report, opened from a saved doctor, builds a dated summary of your recent progress for that doctor.
• My Assessments — Structured check-ins that add context about you across weeks.
• Food Tracker — Meal and drink lines, so you can line up appetite, meals, and gut symptoms with energy.
• Period Tracker — Cycle dates, so you can see whether fatigue or crash days cluster at a certain point in the cycle.
• Weight Tracker — Weekly weights, useful when appetite is low or weight is changing.

Everything you log builds one history. Guided forms include the key questions, and you can add custom symptoms when you need your own labels. Long Covid Journey is free to download.

Sources

• NHS — Long COVID
• NHS — Joint pain

FAQ