The joints connect bones and provide the necessary support to enable movement across different ranges. Patients with joint pain have complications in these bone intersections and thus experience challenges, especially when moving. For this reason, determining the underlying cause of your joint pain Hoboken should be the initial step in physician intervention and thus help develop an appropriate treatment plan.
What causes joint pain?
The main reason patients experience joint pain is damage that affects the joint structure and thus hinders optimal performance. Some of the main conditions that may explain your joint pain symptom include:
- Osteoarthritis involves direct bone grinding, a painful occurrence due to cartilage loss.
- Rheumatoid arthritis: This autoimmune disease involves an immune response against joint and bone tissues, thus interfering with structure and causing complications in the joint.
- Bursitis: Patients with this disease experience inflammation in joint fluid sacs.
- Gout: This disease is a type of arthritis that usually presents in the big toe joint
- Injury: Joint strain and sprain affect the integrity of the joint structure, thus causing discomfort and pain.
How do physicians diagnose joint pain?
Physicians need to determine the underlying cause of patients’ concerns to appreciate the best approach better to restore wellness in the joint. Your doctor will review your medical and family history during an initial consultation to detect any potential risk factors causing your joint pain. Imaging tests are necessary to provide physicians with detailed information about the current joint structure and thus indicate the cause of concern. Physicians name joint pain depending on the location of the problem.
What are the treatments for joint pain?
Physicians develop treatment plans for patients with joint pain depending on the severity of symptoms and location of the pain. Your doctor must make an accurate diagnosis of the underlying cause of your symptoms to develop the right approach to restore structure and function. There are two main types of joint pain:
- Acute: This debilitating or mild pain usually lasts several weeks.
- Chronic: This type of pain is persistent and can last longer than three months.
Available treatment options for joint pain aim to eliminate symptoms like pain and inflammation while preserving joint structure and function. The most common treatment options for joint pain include:
- Medications: Physicians prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to relieve mild to severe pain and swelling in the joints.
- Topical agents: Specific topical agents like capsaicin effectively treat underlying joint pain causes like arthritis.
- Injections: Injections are ideal for patients who do not experience relief from using oral and topical medications. Physicians also leverage injections to remove excess fluid from the joints.
- Physical therapy: Physical therapists recommend specific exercises to restore strength and stability to the joint.
- Home care: Patients can try home remedies like applying cold or warm compress on a joint to relieve short-term symptoms.
- Surgery: Invasive techniques are only ideal when other treatment options have failed to offer relief. Your doctor will apply a specific surgical procedure depending on the severity of your condition and the root cause of your pain.
Contact Downtown Pain Management if you have joint pain to determine the best way to find relief of your symptoms.
