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How much blood flows through your joints? Would you be surprised if I told you, "None"? That's right! Inside the joint there is a clear, viscous, slippery fluid that lubricates the joint surface, but no red blood flows inside the joint. Doctors do not want to see blood in a joint. When there is blood inside a joint, it is usually because of trauma. That means tissue has been injured and blood vessels have been broken, bleeding into the clear cavity.

"How," you may ask, "can a joint get oxygen and nutrition if there is no blood in the joint?"

Articular (joint) cartilage has no direct blood s...