The Best Ways to Manage Your Joint Pain

If you’re dealing with chronic joint pain, going about your daily activities can be challenging. You probably avoid putting weight on an affected joint or try to modify your movements to reduce discomfort.

Maybe you’ve even given up activities that used to bring you joy because you fear they might hurt your joints. But you don’t have to let discomfort or pain control your life. At Summit Primary Care, board-certified family physician Lawrence Scott Wilner, DO, offers pain management to reduce discomfort and pain.

What causes joint pain?

Joints connect your bones and offer stability as you walk or move. If a joint becomes injured or diseased, it can become inflamed, leading to pain. Joint pain can last anywhere from a few weeks to months or become chronic.

Painful joints can be felt anywhere in your body, like the shoulder, elbows, fingers, hips, and knees. Treating joint pain requires Dr. Wilner to understand its cause of discomfort. Common health issues that cause joint pain include:

Arthritis

Over 15 million people report joint pain related to arthritis annually. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that develops when the bone and cartilage in your joints wear down over time. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes your immune system to attack healthy tissue, which leads to deformity and swelling in your joints.

Gout

Another type of arthritis, Gout, primarily affects the joints of the big toe rather than the other joints of your body.

Bursitis

When the fluid-filled sacs in your joints become inflamed, it’s called bursitis. Bursitis is a painful, temporary condition that can occur in any body joint but is most common in larger joints like your shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows.

Injuries

Sprains, strains, or other injuries can lead to joint pain. Treating the underlying injury typically resolves the joint pain.

While joint pain is a common complaint as people age, it isn’t something you have to live with at any age. If you have swollen and painful joints, contact Dr. Wilner for treatment.

At-home treatment for joint pain

Home treatment can reduce joint pain for mild discomfort or initial signs of joint pain. Try resting and reducing your activities for a few days while placing ice on the sore joint for 15 minutes at a time, four times a day.

You can reduce swelling by elevating the painful joint above your heart and try over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

Long-term strategies to reduce joint pain and help prevent it from recurring involve healthy diet and exercise changes to reach your goal weight. Maintaining a lower weight helps take some pressure off your joints and reduce discomfort.

If the home-remedies aren’t improving your condition after a few days, or if you still have obvious swelling around the joint, schedule an appointment with Dr. Wilner.

Joint pain treatment options

At Summit Primary Care, Dr. Wilner offers a variety of joint pain treatments to reduce pain and swelling. Possible treatment options include:

Prescription anti-inflammatory medication
Topical pain relievers
Corticosteroids injections

In some cases, Dr. Wilner may suggest physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around your joints.

Get the relief you deserve. Schedule an appointment at one of our three Summit Primary Care locations in Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo, Colorado, to determine the cause of your joint pain and start your customized treatment plan.