Chronic joint pain from the degenerative effects of arthritis is often a tricky condition to control. You could need more than one form of therapy to ease your symptoms, and late-stage joint deterioration may leave total joint replacement as your only option.
There are, however, less invasive options that you can explore before arthritic joints require replacement. Dr. James Nassiri and the team at Westside Pain Specialists are here to help with all of your arthritis pain management needs. Today, we look at when repairing is a better option than replacing your problem joints.
Arthritis isn’t a single disease but a catch-all category, composed of over 100 diseases and conditions that attack your joints. While osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and associated joint pain, other conditions may also explain your joint pain.
As well as arthritis, joint pain may come from:
Many of these conditions can be healed or reversed. Even in the case of osteoarthritis, it’s possible to slow the rate of degeneration and avoid advancement to the point where joint replacement becomes necessary.
Repairing or preserving joints rather than opting for joint replacement can be a challenging decision, requiring a balance of factors including your condition, lifestyle, and general health.
Some of these factors include:
There are many joint preservation therapies for the knees as an alternative to replacement. Hips and shoulders are catching up with treatment alternatives, too. The options open to you sometimes depend on which joints give you the most trouble.
Because people are living longer, repairing and preserving strategies relieve the need for second joint replacement procedures later in life. Generally, preservation strategies are more effective at younger ages, too.
The amount of pain you experience isn’t always connected to the severity of your joint problem. In some cases, small areas of damage might be treatable with minimally invasive procedures rather than joint replacements.
If you’re carrying extra pounds, you may be surprised at how powerful even modest weight loss is as a joint pain relief strategy. Five pounds of lost weight could take 15-25 pounds of force off of joints like the ankles, hips, or knees. Relieving these forces helps to repair or preserve joints.
Adding muscle mass through exercise also takes force off the bones of load-bearing joints while protecting them from shock and strain.
Regardless of which route you take, the experts at Westside Pain Specialists are here to deliver effective pain management solutions that fit your life. Call the nearest of our two locations in Beverly Hills or Rancho Cucamonga, California, today or whenever you need care for painful joints.
