Abstract Degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis, despite being a significant medical problem and frequently operated upon, results in relatively little work for the general histopathologist. Histopathologists will most often encounter specimens where the case is clinically or radiologically unusual. It is therefore important to recognize the pathological changes that are normally encountered in joints with degenerative joint disease, identify related pathology that may be causative and differentiate these from other types of arthritis, especially crystal associated arthropathy and inflammatory arthropathies and other incidental pathology.