Joint pain can be one of the most frustrating conditions because it limits your everyday activities and makes you feel old before your time. It can be caused by a variety of factors, such as injury, obesity, or osteoarthritis. But how can you manage the pain and also get rid of it for good? When you visit Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA, we can help you alleviate the discomfort and get back on your feet.
How Can You Get Rid of Joint Pain?
Understand What Joint Pain Is
Joints are the areas where two bones come together. When you suffer from joint discomfort or pain, it occurs when there is inflammation in one or more of your joints. This pain can be the result of an injury, illness, or overuse.
What Treatment Is Like
There’re many ways to get rid of this type of pain. You can reduce it by taking medication or through natural home remedies. You can also reduce it by trying to avoid activities that cause you pain.
If the pain is caused by an injury, then treatment will depend on what part of your body has been injured. You may need surgery or other medical procedures depending on which body parts are affected.
Medical Treatment
Medical treatment can be done by taking medication or undergoing surgery, depending on the severity of damage to body parts. Your doctor might recommend that you take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. This is to reduce pain and inflammation in your joints. You can also opt for steroid injections, which are effective at reducing the swelling of your joints.
What About More Severe Conditions?
If the problem is more severe, then surgery might be required to remove any damaged parts of bones from around a joint. Depending on how extensive damage has been caused around the site, there could be several procedures involved in this process before recovery begins and movement between body parts returns to normal again.
What Injections Can be Used?
Injections can be used where patients don’t find relief from topical or oral medication. The injections may come in the form of steroids, platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRT), or prolotherapy. These injections help reduce swelling and stiffness as well as provide lubrication to the joints, thus increasing their range of motion.
Usually, these types of anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed for those who suffer from osteoarthritis because they work by decreasing inflammation within the body that is causing any associated symptoms.
Home Treatment Tips and Techniques
There are several great tips and techniques you can use at home that may help relieve the discomfort associated with your condition. However, some of these techniques are simple and others more involved, but all effectively alleviate and manage pain.
Use Topical Pain Relievers
One of the simplest home remedies for joint discomfort is to apply topical medications, such as creams, lotions, and patches. These products are a popular choice among individuals with arthritis because they can provide immediate relief from symptoms without having to ingest anything or inject medication into the body.
Topical pain relievers work by targeting specific areas of inflammation within our joints where we feel discomfort. They usually contain ingredients like menthol, which creates an intense cooling sensation that penetrates the skin and brings about temporary numbness to reduce swelling, stiffness, or soreness associated with this condition.
Stay Physically Active
To ward off the symptoms of this condition, it’s important you stay physically active and keep the joints moving. You can do this in several ways, such as simple stretches or participating in low-impact exercises like walking.
In addition, you should also try not to sit for too long at any given time since this can further restrict blood flow which may lead to increased swelling levels due to a buildup of fluid around the area. Maintaining an upright position is typically recommended instead where possible.
Stretch Before Exercising
Often, joint discomfort results from a person’s body not being properly set up for exercising. The best way to prevent this from occurring is by stretching out before beginning. This will help loosen joints and muscles allowing them to be more flexible, which can help reduce discomfort after an activity has ceased since they won’t tighten as much.
Manage Your Body Weight
Keep your body weight in check by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. This will help keep your joints from taking the brunt of the pressure, which can make them weaker over time, causing you to feel more pain when doing simple tasks. Natural Remedies If Your Pain Isn’t Due to Arthritis
If your pain isn’t due to arthritis, then there are some things you can try to get rid of the pain.
Warm Baths
Take a warm bath or use hot packs on your joints for about 15 minutes, three times per day. This will help with muscle relaxation and joint swelling. This exercise helps reduce joint discomforts by increasing blood flow and strengthening muscles that support affected joints.
Epsom Salt Baths
Soak your body in an Epsom salt bath for twenty minutes once per day on top of taking two warm baths throughout the day. Magnesium sulfate is absorbed through your skin during this time, helping relax muscles that support joints as well as strengthening them by improving muscle contraction.
Heat Therapy
Heat therapy, such as using a heating pad, can also help to relax muscles and relieve pain. This type of therapy increases blood circulation, which helps decrease inflammation throughout the body while improving the range of motion within your joints. Be sure to use low-to-medium heat on your chosen joints for 15 minutes at least three times per day.
Cold Therapy
When muscle stiffness or swelling is an issue in reducing your joint discomfort, cold therapy may be helpful instead. Cold packs applied directly to the affected area will not only decrease muscular spasms but promote the healing of tissues by increasing blood flow.
Stay Well-Hydrated at All Times
Staying hydrated is important for everyone’s health, but it especially helps to ease the pain and discomfort of joint issues. Drinking more than eight glasses of water per day can help keep everything moving smoothly through the body and tissues, which reduces any swelling that could cause added pressure or inflammation in certain areas around joints.
Massage Therapy Before and After Exercise
Massage therapy is yet another option for getting rid of the pain. The increased blood flow and release of endorphins will help reduce swelling while minimizing any discomfort you may be feeling in the affected area(s). Getting a massage following an intense lifting session helps decrease muscle soreness and promote recovery of the soft tissue areas that were worked hard during training.
What Causes the Pain?
Various reasons can cause joint pain. When joints are injured, they may swell and cause discomfort to the person suffering from it. Joints are also affected due to diseases such as arthritis or gout, which leads to stiffness of one’s body parts, making it difficult to move around freely.
Pain can be acute or chronic, depending on the duration of time you have had these symptoms. It is advisable to visit your doctor immediately you experience any joint discomfort so they can diagnose what is causing this problem and recommend possible treatments.
Why Is Arthritis the Most Common Cause of Joint Discomfort?
Arthritis is the most common cause of pain, affecting about 23% of all adults in the United States. Arthritis is simply inflammation caused by one or more injuries to joints (or other connective tissue). The result of this inflammation can be mild discomfort like stiffness and soreness that come with exercise or even swelling around a local injury site. The end result for many people who have arthritis is chronic pain. However, there are ways you can reduce your risk of developing it altogether.
Other causes of joint discomfort and related pain include:
- Gout
- Lupus
- Septic arthritis
- Vasculitis
- Bursitis
- Infection of the joint or bone
- Rickets
- Overuse of a joint
- Chondromalacia of the kneecap
What are the Symptoms of Joint Pain?
In some cases, the pain is so mild that the only sign of it on your body will be a little redness around your joints, or maybe you’ll feel some heat.
If the symptoms are more serious, you might have swelling and tenderness along with warmth and redness in the affected area. You may also notice signs like stiffness when moving, lack of range of motion (meaning you can’t move an arm or leg as far to one side), and difficulty using that part of your body normally.
Know When To See a Doctor
If you suspect that you are suffering from joint discomfort or joint injury, it is important to consult with your medical professional quickly. There are many types of arthritis and other conditions that cause joint discomfort, so the sooner you get diagnosed correctly, the faster treatment can begin working for relief.
You should see a doctor if:
- The pain becomes unbearable
- The pain persists for more than two days
- The pain is accompanied with a fever
- The area around the joint is tender, red, swollen, or warm to the touch
How Pain Diagnosis Is Like
Your doctor will do some common tests such as bloodwork or an x-ray. Blood work can show signs of inflammation in the body, which is one sign that the joints are being affected by arthritis or another condition causing pain.
An X-ray helps a medical professional see if there are any abnormal growths on bone structures around the area where it hurts most. Your doctor may also request a sedimentation rate test to check inflammation levels in your joints.
Self-Care Routine To Managing Pain
Getting rid of this condition requires a self-care routine that helps you manage your pain and limit its negative impact on your life. This includes:
- Understanding as much as you can about your condition
- Taking an active part in managing your condition
- Keeping track of your symptoms and how they affect you
- Developing coping mechanisms to help deal with the stress that comes from constant pain
- Being aware of any changes in your condition so you can respond accordingly
Discover the Right Joint Pain Treatment for You
Getting rid of joint pain is a process that includes using medicine and natural remedies while trying to make changes in lifestyle and diet. Joint discomfort is a common issue, but the sooner you catch the problem, typically less medication will be required for treatment. Visit us at Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA to get more information on how to manage joint discomfort and improve your quality of life.
