As stated earlier, Joint Pain usually comes from injury, arthritis & wear & tear. This pain signal is our body telling us that it needs help. Ignoring these signals early could cause long-term damage & lead to major surgery. If we follow the CORE ROADS TO LIFE, we make a Commitment to take Ownership of our life. We need to see our doctor, get feedback & do the Research. As a patient, we need to make the best "Joint Decision" with our doctor, caregiver, family & friends.

As the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) states, arthritis simply means "inflammation of a joint." In some forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, inflammation arises because the smooth covering (articular cartilage) on the ends of the bones become damaged or worn. Osteoarthritis is usually found in one, usually weightbearing, joint.

In other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, the joint lining becomes inflamed as part of the disease process that effects the entire body. Some other types of arthritis are: seronegative spondyloarthropathies, crytalline deposition, and septic arthritis.

Our first goal is to work with our family doctor to diagnose & eliminate the pain through exercise & rehabilitation. If necessary, your family doctor will recommend an orthopedic surgeon for more severe cases. Again, the last resort, based on the severity of the diagnosis, should be surgery or total replacement. Maintaining a Positive Attitude supports quick recovery.

Many people have come up with alternative solutions to handle their Joint Pain without seeing their doctor first. For example, sports enthusiasts that love playing their sport, like basketball, will use a compression brace around their knee to relieve the pain & continue playing. There may be torn meniscus, or padding, between the knee that will only get worse with continued activity. The band-aid solution may cover up the pain when playing, but the knee will continue to sustain more damage.

When we have Joint Pain that causes us to change how we live, we need to see our doctor to get a diagnosis & a professional solution that hopefully does not include any type of surgery.

A patient with Joint Pain must listen to others. Those around us, especially potential caregivers, are trying to let us know objectively what our Joint Pain really looks like. When we have joint pain, we do have a great effect on anyone we are around. If we are limping, people seem to step back & feel sorry. Our attitude about ourselves, life & others can be adversely effected by constant Joint Pain.

Joint Pain can effect our lives far worse than we think. Simple joint pain can throw our body out of alignment, causing us to walk with a limp. This also puts strain on all other joints that need to provide additional support. Physically, because of our lack of mobility, we cannot work out, walk, or simply exercise. This can cause us to gain weight, putting a great burden on our entire disposition. Psychologically & emotionally, this stress caused from joint pain can put us in a negative frame of mind, reacting far more sensitively to any issue that comes our way. Visually this is validated even further when we do not like who we see in that mirror. Taking care of Joint Pain immediately not only helps our joints, it helps our entire being.

When our car experiences a shortage of air in a tire, we immediately get the tire back in optimum shape. Why is it that as patients, with our body, when our body signals it needs help, we many times ignore it, thinking it will go away. A shortage of air in our car tire will not over time replace itself. We need to take action. We also know that if we don't fill our tire with air, over time it will wear out much quicker.

So it is with our body. When it is screaming for help via Joint Pain, we need to take action, see our doctor, get an accurate diagnosis & follow-through with a solution to avoid further damage.

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