Vim & Vigor - Spring 2020 - Northside Hospital - 22

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Persistence is worth it. Understanding the source of your joint
pain will make it easier to come
up with a treatment plan that
really works.
Feeling achy? Here's what to know.

Why Joints Are Prone
to Aches and Pains

Because joints help keep the body
in motion and are constantly in
use, they are prone to damage.
Pain within the joints of the back,
knees, hips, ankles and hands is
often due to osteoarthritis caused
by deteriorating cartilage (the padding between bones). Other times,
an injury or even persistent bad
posture can lead to chronic pain or
cause a sprain (a stretch or a tear
in the ligament that connects the
bones at the joint).
"You could have joint pain in
any joint in the body for a variety
of reasons, so it's not always easy to
understand the pain," says Sanjeev
Bhatia, MD, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and consulting team
physician for the U.S. Ski Team.
Pain can come from multiple
parts of the joint, including ligaments that connect to the bones to
form a joint, tendons that connect
the joint to the muscle to help
keep bones in place, cartilage that
reduces the friction in the joint and
fluid-filled sacks called bursas that
provide cushion, Bhatia says.

When Acute Injury
Is the Culprit

If joint pain comes on suddenly,
a timely doctor visit is critical.
Whether you strained your elbow
on the tennis court or pulled your
back after a car accident, a sudden
injury can develop into joint pain
that may be harder to treat down
the line.
"If it's an acute injury, it's usually
a good idea to get diagnosed early,"
Bhatia says.
SPRING 2020 VIM & VIGOR

Where Does
It Hurt?

"Distinguishing between
pain that occurs outside of
the joint (extra-articular)
from pain that occurs
within the joint (intraarticular) is a key factor
in determining the root
cause of pain," says Mary Jo
Albert, MD, an orthopedic
surgeon affiliated with
Northside Hospital. "Once
we have an answer to
this question, we can
figure out the appropriate
next steps."
When there is pain
outside of the joint, "this
is usually the result of
an injury or something
related to the structure of
the joint," Dr. Albert says.
Bursitis and hip abductor
tears are two examples of
extra-articular conditions.
"Alternatively, when
a person complains of
pain within the joint,
we're looking at a
condition that's affecting
the inside of the joint,
like a loss of cartilage
from osteoarthritis,"
Dr. Albert says. "It's also
not uncommon for patients
with intra-articular pain
to suffer from worsening
joint pain as a result of
continued damage to the
joint itself."

Joint
Effort

Joint pain knows no
boundaries-it can happen
to any one of your 200-plus
joints. To find a specialtytrained expert who can
provide customized care and
be your source of strength,
visit northside.com/
orthopedics.

Much of the time, sudden-onset
joint pain will go away in weeks with
proper conservative care, including
physical therapy, anti-inflammatory
medication, like ibuprofen, and rest.
Ignoring the pain can make it linger
or cause additional damage.
Many acute injuries can resolve
without the need for surgery, Bhatia
says. "The first-line treatment is a
physical therapy program. That's
always where we start. Then we look
at injections and medications."

To Test or Not to Test

Imaging tests can help providers
diagnose some types of joint pain.
For instance, a simple X-ray can
be beneficial to better understand
whether cartilage has degenerated, says David Konstant, DPT,
a physical therapist and member
of the American Physical Therapy
Association. Additionally, an MRI
can give a more detailed picture
of some types of abnormalities or
disease. But while the source of
arthritis-related pain is often visible
on these images, a strain may be
harder to spot, he adds.
https://www.northside.com/orthopedic https://www.northside.com/orthopedic
Vim & Vigor - Spring 2020 - Northside Hospital

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