What Is Joint Pain?
Joints form vital connections between your bones that give your body stability and support movement. Any form of joint damage, whether it’s due to injury, overuse, or disease, can prevent you from moving properly and affect your daily routines.
Joint pain may be mild, irritating, or severe. It might be acute (going away in a few weeks) or chronic (lasting months or years). Knee pain is the most common type of joint pain and can limit your ability to move around.
The shoulder, which consists of several joints connected by tendons and muscles known as the rotator cuff, gives you a wide range of motion. Shoulder pain can affect your ability to use your arms and hands, preventing you from completing simple daily tasks.
Pain on the inside of your hip is likely to be coming from the joint, whereas on the outer side of the hip, pain is more often due to soft tissue damage or overuse. Pain Management of North Dallas, PA, can diagnose the cause of your joint pain and find the best treatments.
What Conditions Might Cause Joint Pain?
Many injuries cause joint pain, such as ligament sprains, tendon strains, cartilage tears, fractures, and dislocations. These acute injuries should heal well with appropriate care, but if they don’t receive the right treatment or your body can’t heal the damage fully, they can become chronic pain problems.
Overuse injuries are also a common cause of joint pain. They’re often due to bursitis (inflammation in the fluid-filled sacs called bursae in your joints) or tendonitis, where tiny micro-injuries build up and cause inflammation.
The leading cause of prolonged joint pain is arthritis. The disease’s many forms include rheumatoid arthritis, which is triggered by a problem with your immune system, and osteoarthritis, which results from years of wear on the joints.
There are also joints in your pelvis (the sacroiliac joints) and spine (facet joints). While these joints might not have the mobility of the shoulders and knees, they can still be a source of considerable pain.
How Is Joint Pain Treated?
Pain Management of North Dallas, PA, uses nonsurgical approaches to treat joint pain. These could include:
- Physical therapy
- Braces, slings, casts, or splints
- Activity modification
- Anti-inflammatory medication
- Lubricating injections
- Joint aspiration (removing excess fluid)
- Steroid joint injections
- Radiofrequency ablation in the knees
- Epidural steroid injections in the spine
These treatments are typically very successful in treating joint pain.
With support from Pain Management of North Dallas, PA, many people with joint pain can avoid invasive surgery. To find effective solutions to your joint pain, call their office today, or book an appointment online.
