Your joints help you with mobility. A joint is the point of contact for your bones, connecting your skeletal system. Thanks to your joints’ mobility, you can shift your body in different positions. Unfortunately, the joints are susceptible to injuries that can either be chronic or acute. Joint pain does not necessarily indicate that there is an issue with your joint. Sometimes, your joint pain may result from an affected nerve (referral pain). Whatever the cause of your pain, do not let it frustrate you and render you immobile when you can contact Lawrenceburg joint pain experts for help.
What factors contribute to joint pain?
Several factors may contribute to your joint pain, some of which are age-related. Possible causes in adults are different from those in children. Your reason can be apparent, such as a sports injury or an underlying condition like osteoporosis. Though joint pain is likely to fade without treatment, in other cases, the pain may need a referral to a specialist for diagnosis. If your pain results from structural components in or around the joint, you may be having a problem with:
- Joint lining
- Muscles, tendons, and ligaments around your joint
- The joint’s bones or those surrounding it
Other joint pain causes include:
- Injury
- Viral infection
- Diseases
- Arthritis
What symptoms are you likely to have with joint pain?
Your painful symptoms may range between mild and irritating to debilitating pain affecting your mobility. The pain may also last a few days or several weeks, depending on its severity. Whatever your joint pain cause, you are likely to have the following symptoms.
- Joint swelling
- Joint stiffness
- Joint tenderness
- Fatigue
- Minimal joint movement
- Joint weakness and instability
What treatment options do you have to relieve yourself of joint pain?
Medications. Your doctor may prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve you from mild to severe joint pain that involves swelling. If your pain is severe, your doctor may prescribe stronger medication or recommend another treatment option. The health provider may also prescribe muscle relaxants (to help you with muscle spasms), antidepressants, and antiepileptic drugs (to interfere with pain signals).
Injections. Injections will be your best option if oral or topical medications fail to relieve your painful symptoms. Your care provider will administer the drugs by injecting them into your affected joint directly. The specialist will mostly recommend the steroid injection when you have tendonitis and arthritis. Besides injecting medication into your affected joint, your doctor may also use the treatment to eliminate fluid from your painful joint.
Physical therapy. Physical therapies help strengthen your joint’s surrounding muscles, enhance the joint’s motion range and stabilize it. Your doctor may use treatments like heat or cold, manipulation, ultrasound, and electrical sound stimulation to relieve you from pain. If you are overweight, your health provider may recommend weight loss exercises to minimize pressure on your painful joints.
Alternative treatments. Your doctor may also recommend glucosamine and chondroitin supplements to relieve you from pain and increase your joint function.
Regardless of your joint pain’s root cause, get medical help immediately. Failure to seek medical help, the pain may intensify and result in instant deformations or inflammation. As a result, you may not be able to use the joint. For more inquiries on joint pain, contact your doctor immediately.