4 Signs of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
While the primary symptom of complex regional pain syndrome is found right in the name — pain — there are other side effects. Here’s a look at how this condition can appear in your life and what to do next.
3 Best Practices for Dealing With Degenerative Arthritis
You rely on your joints for mobility and range of motion, and when they’re in pain, your world can get considerably smaller.
If this sounds familiar, you’re certainly not alone — about one in four American adults reports arthritis, and 44% of this group also reports activity limitations due to the joint pain.
Because May is National Arthritis Awareness Month in the United States, the skilled team of joint health experts here at Johnston Pain Management wants to review a few great practices that will keep you moving and doing the things you love, despite your degenerative arthritis.
What we mean by degenerative arthritis
Let’s first discuss what we’re referring to when we refer to arthritis as degenerative. There are more than 100 different types of arthritis, which is a catchall category for diseases that lead to joint pain and inflammation.
The most common types of arthritis are those that we call degenerative, such as osteoarthritis (OA). With OA, the cartilage inside your joints begins to break down, and without this proactive tissue, your bones can grind against each other. We also refer to OA as a wear-and-tear disease that is both progressive and irreversible.
Outside of OA, there are other forms of degenerative arthritis, such as post-traumatic arthritis, which is essentially premature OA that occurs after a joint injury.
Strategies for managing your arthritis
Because there’s no turning back the clock when it comes to degenerative arthritis, management is key to slowing the progression of the joint disease. With good management, you can also recapture some of your mobility and range of motion.
By good management, we mean:
1. Get the right diagnosis and help
If you're struggling with joint pain and you’re just assuming it’s arthritis, please have us check it out. Good management of any health condition starts with the right diagnosis, so you know where to focus your efforts.
If we confirm that you have a degenerative form of arthritis, we can ease your joint pain and inflammation through interventional treatments, such as joint injections. We can also ensure you have the tools you need to move forward, such as braces.
2. Get moving and get strong
Becoming more sedentary due to joint pain is not a great solution and will only lead to other health problems. Besides, your joints are made to move, so that’s exactly what we want you to do.
Moving around gets resources flowing to your joints and can go a long way toward preventing stiffness and preserving range of motion.
We also want you to strengthen the muscles surrounding the affected joints to take the pressure off the bones and cartilage.
We’re happy to sit down with you to design a good action plan for getting some beneficial exercise.
3. Shed excess pounds
The health costs of carrying too much weight are many and include premature wear-and-tear in your joints. Unfortunately, one in three adults in the US is overweight, and two of five are obese.
No matter where you fall on the scale, if you carry too much weight, your joints pay the price. So, weight loss is a great way to slow the degeneration in your joints.
We will stop here because the above three joint health strategies require some effort and are the best place to start when dealing with degenerative arthritis.
For a more personalized arthritis plan, we invite you to schedule a consultation at one of our three conveniently located offices in Jacksonville, Hampstead, and New Bern, North Carolina.
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