Do This, Not That For Chronic Joint Pain

May 5, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

If you have chronic pain or aches in your knees, hips or wrists, you’ve probably heard a bunch of advice on what you should and shouldn’t do to help alleviate this discomfort. While much of this advice is well-intended, it may not all be in your best interest. So what should you be doing, and what should you be avoiding if you hope to overcome chronic joint pain? We share some things you should and shouldn’t be doing to treat your recurrent joint pain.

How To Overcome Chronic Joint Pain

If you’re dealing with chronic joint pain, here’s a look at some of the things you’ll want to do to help treat it, and some activities you may want to avoid.

Do Activity, Don’t Just Rest – Don’t get us wrong, rest can be great in the short term for common joint aches and pains, but after a couple of days your joints will typically be better served if you target them with controlled activity. This will help develop muscles in the area, improve stability, increase flexibility and push healthy blood to structures that need it. If you never work to strengthen an area, tissue can atrophy and become weak. Your joints work better when you’re moving, so don’t shy away from activity.

Do Consult With A Specialist, Don’t Just Rely On Google – Google is a wonderful tool, but looking for medical information online can lead you to pursue some treatments that aren’t right for your specific issue. Instead of simply leaning on your search results for answers, get an individualized diagnosis from a specialist who can view your issues in person. You’ll get set up with a personalized treatment plan that is designed for you.

Do Active Treatments, Avoid Long-Term Passive Treatments – Your joint discomfort is unlikely to resolve by simply pursuing easy passive treatments, like opioids, resting and massage therapy. Those treatments can certainly serve complimentary roles as part of a comprehensive treatment plan, but you need to pursue active treatments like exercise, physical therapy, stretching and strengthening if you want your joints to have the best chance at functional improvements.

Do Focus On Your Total Wellness, Not Just Your Physical Health – While joint pain is a physical problem, long-term physical issues can have an effect on your emotional and psychological health. Don’t ignore the other ways your health and your mind are being affected by physical pain. If you aren’t sure how your physical pain could be affecting your mood or your mental health, it’s another reason to connect with a specialist. Care for your mind and body as you try to overcome a chronic joint issue.

Do Reevaluate Your Lifestyle, Don’t Keep Doing The Same Things – If lifestyle choices contributed to your joint pain, don’t keep following those choices and assume the problem will resolve. If you have poor posture habits, you smoke, you don’t eat a great diet or you are overweight, consider how these factors could be leading to problems for your joints. Again, if the connection isn’t clear, speak with a pain specialist like Dr. Cohn. Oftentimes simple lifestyle adjustments can go a long way in helping you overcome chronic joint pain.

For help overcoming your joint issue, or for other chronic pain problems, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

5 Tips To Prevent Joint Pain While Exercising

April 10, 2015 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Regular exercise is extremely important, especially if you are dealing with a pain problem. Although it can be difficult to find the motivation to work out, exercise will help build strength in your muscles and actually provide some temporary pain relief. Some people have the motivation to work out, but exercise causes their joint problems to flare up. Today, we provide five tips to help prevent joint pain during your workout.

1. Stretch – Jumping straight into your exercise routine is a quick way to trigger your joint pain. Much like a car in the winter, it takes some time for our joints to start moving fluidly. Just like it’s not good to floor it five seconds after starting your car when it’s -10 degrees outside, it’s not smart to jump on the treadmill without letting your joints warm up.

2. Switch up your routine – Try to work out different areas of the body throughout the week. Going for a run every day is fine, but you’re leaving yourself open to overuse injuries, and you’re putting a lot of stress on your feet and knees. Instead, work out your upper body on Monday and Thursday, and strive for a lower body workout on Tuesday and Friday. This gives your joints some time to recover between workouts.

3. Find what works – This may sound obvious, but find a workout that works for you. If you have joint pain in your knees, consider exercising on a stationary bike or in a pool to help with weight bearing. If your back pain flares up while biking, try going for a walk or a run. Keep a log of what works best for you so you can create a pain-free exercise routine.

4. Try alternative methods – There are plenty of ways to get your exercise in without going for a run or a swim. Some more popular alternatives for people with joint pain are yoga and Pilates. These low-impact activities help increase joint mobility and flexibility. Additionally, yoga has been shown to ease pain and swelling in people with rheumatoid arthritis. If other exercises are causing too much joint pain, give yoga or Pilates a try.

5. Don’t overdo it – The right amount of exercise if great for your body, but overdoing it can actually make pain problems work. When developing a workout plan, start slow and progressively work your way up to longer routines. Additionally, if you begin to feel pain, stop your workout or transition to a different exercise that doesn’t impact that part of your body.

How to Relieve Pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis

December 18, 2013June 24, 2014 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder that affects the joints. It can cause painful swelling and deterioration of the joints. It is often symmetrical, starting in the smaller joints and moving to larger joints as the disease progresses. RA impacts the synovium, the lining of the joints and eventually the cartilage, causing thickening and destroying the joint structure and alignment. The damage is caused by inflammation, which is triggered by the body fighting and destroying the joint tissues.

Inflammation & Pain

RA is an inflammatory process. Inflammation itself is painful. Whenever a person has an injury, inflammation occurs. In injury cases, this is a limited process, as the damaged tissue heals, the inflammation disappears, and the pain resolves. In rheumatoid arthritis, the joint inflammation is an ongoing process. Therefore, as long as joints become inflamed, pain can be a problem.

The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis is made based on exam and the findings of inflammatory markers in the blood being elevated as well as the finding of specific blood markers for rheumatoid factors. The disease can be followed by the extent of inflammation, and whether the markers in the blood for inflammation are controlled.

Controlling Pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis

In the past, controlling rheumatoid arthritis was very difficult. Originally the main medications were steroids that had many side effects, especially when used long term. Pain medications could control symptoms, but had no effect on the disease. About 30 years ago, some cancer drugs were being used to control the immune system and these decreased the activity and severity of the disease. In the last ten years, a number of drugs have been developed that specifically suppress the immune system. These drugs, when they are effective, do a remarkable job at stopping inflammation, and markedly slow or eliminate the joint destruction. When inflammation is stopped, minimal pain is present and there is no need for additional pain medications.

Controlling the disease process with the appropriate medications is the key to management of rheumatoid arthritis. If you have RA, the disease should be managed by a Rheumatologist, a doctor specializing in the management of these types of conditions. Pain is a characteristic of inflammation. If pain is present, this usually means that medications need to be adjusted to better control the disease. Rarely, when RA is well managed, will a patient need any additional pain medication.

Are Supplements an Effective Joint Pain Relief Option?

September 23, 2013June 24, 2014 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Critical review of articles is essential to understanding whether or not the conclusion is accurate. A recent New York Times article cited a study that researched whether Vitamin D and Calcium help relieve joint pain. The conclusion was that these supplements do not help.

Unfortunately, this conclusion is misleading. Vitamin D and Calcium are used primarily to promote healthy bones and prevent osteoporosis. Joint health is a completely different issue

The question of whether supplements such as Glucosamine, chondroitin and fish oil help with joint pain is unclear. Multiple studies have been done on these compounds and the results have been mixed on whether they actually do anything. Many people find these compounds to be very helpful. It is fairly clear that they are not harmful. Take these as directed on the bottle, and they might help, a 3-month trial would be reasonable and decide on your own.

Medications that Reduce Joint Pain

So if these supplements do not help reduce joint pain, what are some pain management options? There are numerous ways to combat joint pain. Medications that have FDA approval for joint pain include:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and naproxen
Analgesics like acetaminophen
Steroids like prednisone
Injections like hyaluronic acid

Some of these are now available without a prescription. NSAIDs act by interrupting compounds in the body that cause inflammation and thus joint pain. Prednisone is a corticosteroid, a very powerful prescription level medication that decreases inflammation, but can cause significant other problems when not used cautiously. Analgesics block the transmission of pain signals to the brain or their perception. As noted, these medications all may have significant side affects and can cause other more severe medical problems besides helping with joint pain.

Other Joint Pain Treatment Options

A lot of joint pain is caused by slow deterioration of the joints as we age. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one of the best ways to prevent joint pain. Here are a few specific ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevent joint deterioration:

Eating appropriately
Exercising regularly
Keeping muscles strong, and the body moving
Proper body mechanics while doing activities
Not over stressing the body

To maintain bone health, taking Vitamin D and Calcium has been proven to be healthful. However, joint health is a different issue entirely. When reading research, sometimes it is necessary to understand more background information to be able to determine if the conclusions make any sense. Just because someone did a study does not make it correct.

Source:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/supplements-fail-to-relieve-joint-pain-in-study/?_r=1