What to Do About Your Chronic Joint Pain

The joints are essential body parts where two or more bones come together to allow movement. Because you use the joints a lot throughout your life, it’s no surprise they break down and cause chronic pain.

Chronic joint pain can happen to your back, knees, hips, and shoulders, making life difficult. Although home treatments help, they may not be enough to get permanent relief.

At Consultants in Pain Medicine, Dr. Stephanie S. Jones and her team provide various pain management services for back pain and chronic joint discomfort. Dr. Jones is a pain management specialist who thoroughly evaluates your needs to provide the perfect treatment plan.

Causes of chronic joint pain

According to the CDC, more than 15 million adults have some form of chronic joint pain from arthritis. Living with arthritis means one or more of the joints in the body have become damaged or have inflammation.

Arthritis is only one of the causes of chronic joint pain, though. However, it’s a broad term that describes various types of joint degeneration or inflammation from conditions like osteoarthritis, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Bursitis and tendonitis are other causes of joint pain. Bursitis occurs when the protective bursa sacs in the joint swell, causing pain and discomfort. Tendonitis happens when inflammation hits the tendons around the joint.

Injuries, infections, and dislocations also lead to chronic joint pain, especially if you don’t seek immediate medical treatment.

Home treatments for joint pain

It’s possible to relieve chronic joint pain at home, although it may not be a permanent fix. Depending on the severity of your pain, you may use the following strategies for short-term pain relief:

• Rest, ice, compression, elevation (RICE)
• Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories
• Heat therapy
• Joint supplements
• Soaking in a hot tub or bathtub
• Massage
• Topical treatments

While these options provide some relief, they may not even touch severe chronic joint pain. If you still have joint pain despite home measures, it’s a good idea to seek treatment from Dr. Jones and her team.

What other therapies help?

Whether you have arthritis or another condition causing chronic joint pain in your back or other joints, you have many treatment options. Dr. Jones usually starts with the most conservative treatments and progresses to more invasive options if necessary.

Physical therapy, manual manipulation, and medications are the first line of treatment for joint pain. Dr. Jones evaluates your pain and orders imaging to find out the exact cause of the problem.

Dr. Jones offers more invasive procedures if conservative methods fail to provide significant relief. For joint pain, she provides:

• Trigger point injections
• Epidural steroid injections
• Corticosteroid injections
• Platelet-rich plasma injections
• Electro-Equiscope electrical therapy

In severe cases of joint pain that doesn’t get better with any of the above therapies, Dr. Jones offers spinal cord stimulation and pain pumps to provide long-lasting pain relief. Although these treatments have some risks, the benefits are usually far more significant for your needs.

Call Consultants in Pain Medicine today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Jones, or request a consultation by sending us a message on the website.