Joint Pain
Joint pain can range from irritating to severe pain.
Joint pain may range from irritating, such as the inability to use a finger due to pain in a single small joint, to devastating in the context of being unable to walk due to severe hip or knee pain.
You may experience a mechanical type of pain that can be relieved by not moving, or nerve pain that is substantially more unremitting, never reaches a comfortable state, and interferes with all activities, including sleep.
Understanding Joint Pain
There are a few factors that can increase a person’s likelihood of developing this pain, including:
- Previous joint injury
- Repetitive use or overuse of a joint
- Osteoarthritis/rheumatoid arthritis
- Depression, anxiety, or stress
- Being overweight
- Age
- Bursitis
Common Symptoms
Joint pain most commonly affects the hands, feet, hips, knees, or shoulder. Some of the most common symptoms of this pain, no matter where it manifests, include:
- Stiffness, achiness, or soreness, often worse with cold, damp weather
- Joint stiffness in the morning that may feel better throughout the day with activity
- A limited ability to perform basic tasks
- Swelling
- Stiff or enlarged joint
- Numbness
- Noisy joints, like clicking, grinding, or snapping sounds during movement
- Pain when moving the joint
- Difficulty bending or straightening the affected joint
- Loss of mobility
- A red, hot, and swollen joint – this symptom should be evaluated by a doctor as soon as possible
Diagnosis
Successful treatment hinges on a precise diagnosis. Getting this diagnosis can be complicated by a variety of factors, but our team is persistent and we won’t rest until we understand the root cause of your pain. After your diagnosis, we will review your treatment options and seek to minimize the risk and maximize your chance of achieving a long-term reduction in your pain.
The treatments for these pains can be quite different. Occasionally, you may have undergone a joint replacement in an attempt to relieve pain and, while usually successful, sometimes this treatment leaves you with continued pain or an entirely new pain in another area.
We have close relationships with our orthopedic colleagues to pursue both the evaluation and treatment of pain in or surrounding your joints, ranging from the treatment of athletes to the patient who has undergone extensive reconstructive surgery and unfortunately still suffers from persistent pain.
