Joint Pain
An experience with joint pain can range from the irritating, as in, the inability to use a single 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 suffer from a mechanical type pain for which you do achieve some relief merely by not moving or a pain which we would describe as a nerve pain which is substantially more unremitting and never reaches a comfortable state and interferes with all activities including sleep. The treatments for these pains can be quite different. Occasionally, you may have undergone a joint replacement in the attempt to relieve pain and while usually successful, sometimes this treatment leaves you with the same pain continuing or an entirely different new pain syndrome.
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.
Common Causes
Post Surgical Pain
Trauma
Overuse
Arthritis
Case Study
Mrs Jones (not her real name), 55 years old, came to a musculoskeletal specialist seeking advice for a 3-year history of progressively worsening pain in both knees. Her knees were stiff for about 20 minutes when she arose in the morning and for a few minutes after getting up from a chair during the day. She had difficulty walking > 30 minutes because of pain, and her symptoms were exacerbated by kneeling, squatting, or descending stairs. Although sitting, resting, and reclining relieved her pain, she became stiff if she stayed in one position for too long. Her symptoms were worse on humid or cold days, and she occasionally felt as if one of her knees would “give out.”
