Generally, if you have joint pain, swelling, and restricted mobility, you do not have to undergo joint replacement surgery. Sarah Phillips DNP, APRN, provides minimally invasive treatment like injections. Joint injections can effectively relieve the pain and tenderness affecting your joint or joints in your shoulder, neck, or back. Specialized treatment can also involve taking medicines.
Usually, your doctor can choose between PRP or corticosteroid injections. For instance, cortisone is an artificial hormone that works like cortisol. Cortisol hormone is produced by the adrenal glands.
Cortisol is vital for influencing various functions of your body, including the immune system’s response and energy production. More importantly, cortisol helps reduce inflammation, especially in affected joints. Below are reasons you will likely require injections into your joint or joints.
Injuries from frequent use of joints
Your joints can wear down if you constantly subject them to stress, especially depending on your job. For example, data entry or office work and construction jobs can contribute to the straining of your joints.
A teacher, musician, truck driver, lumber worker, or professional athlete is also at higher risk of joint overuse injuries. Common overuse injuries include jumper’s knee, shin splints, and Sever’s disease.
If you are a professional athlete, you can prevent an overuse injury by properly conditioning and strengthening your joints, tendons, and muscles. Moreover, wear the right gear and equipment that safeguards different areas of your joints from trauma and overstretching.
Gout
Also called gouty arthritis, gout is a prevalent form of inflammatory arthritis that often affects the big toe joint. Gout occurs when your joints accumulate excess crystallized uric acid.
Uric acid mainly comes from the liver as a by-product. Uric acid will become crystals in your joints if you produce it in excess or if kidneys do not remove most of them from your blood.
Osteoarthritis
The Arthritis Foundation reports that nearly 34 American adults are affected by osteoarthritis (OA). It is the most common form of joint inflammation out of over 100 arthritis conditions. OA occurs because of cartilage wearing down in the joints of the hips, lower back, hips, or knees.
Osteoarthritis is often due to aging, obesity, overuse of a joint because of repetitive movements, or improperly formed joints. For instance, if you are obese or overweight, the body’s excess weight exposes the joints, especially those in the knees, to unbearable stress. A stressed joint promotes the breaking down or degeneration of its cartilage fibers.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with your immune system working improperly by attacking healthy cells. When the healthy tissues are destroyed in one or more joints, you will experience swelling and pain. If you have severe RA, it can cause damaged organs, brittle bones, and crippled joints.
Joint injections are also useful when you have bursitis. Bursitis is an inflammation of the sacs containing fluids in your joints. The sacs with fluids help absorb shocks in your joints and reduce the effects of friction.
Contact Prudent Medical Providers today to book a consultation with a joint injection specialist and learn more about joint pain.
