Joint pain is very common, especially as you age. It can be caused by tendonitis, bursitis, fracture, inflammation, or most commonly, arthritis. Joint pain can sometimes radiate away from the joint, affecting the upper thigh and knee or arm.
Tendonitis: Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendons (connective tissue that connects muscles to bones) usually caused by overuse. Symptoms of tendonitis include tenderness at the site of the tendon, pain with movement of the tendon, and sometimes swelling at the tendon site. Tendonitis usually occurs in one of the tendons in the wrist, ankle, kneecap, rotator cuff in the shoulder, elbow (tennis elbow), and Achilles tendon.
Nerve entrapment syndromes: Carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome are the most common syndromes involving entrapment, or pinching, of peripheral nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome is the entrapment of the medial nerve running from the forearm to the palm of the hand. This produces burning, tingling, or numbness in the wrist, palm and fingers of the affected nerve. Cubital tunnel syndrome is the entrapment of the ulnar nerve right at the “funny bone” that causes pain and numbness at the elbow and tingling in the fingers, especially the ring and little fingers.
Osteoarthritis: This degenerative joint disease is the most common, occurring when cartilage in a joint wears as you get older. It gets worse over time and there is no cure. Since the cartilage cushions the ends of bones, when it deteriorates then bones rub together causing pain. Osteoarthritis develops mostly in your hands and fingers, knees, or hips. It can affect your spine or neck. Researchers suspect osteoarthritis is caused by aging, heredity, obesity or muscle weakness. Sometimes osteoarthritis develops because a joint suffered injury years earlier. Dr. Rubin treats osteoarthritis with medication and procedures.
Rheumatoid arthritis: It is believed this disease occurs when tissues lining multiple joints (synovial membranes) are attacked by your body’s immune system by mistake. Swelling, redness, and pain results, eventually causing bone erosion and deformed joints. A patient with rheumatoid arthritis can feel fatigue and fever in the whole body and stiffness following rest. Women are three times more likely than men to have rheumatoid arthritis, which is usually diagnosed in people 40 to 60 years old. Doctors aren’t sure what causes rheumatoid arthritis, although it is suspected that genetics may make you more susceptible to viruses and bacteria that trigger the disease. There is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is typically treated by a rheumatologist.
It’s believed the sooner you treat arthritis after it develops the better. Treating within two years of the start of the disease can slow its development over time.
Dr. Jeffrey Rubin and the staff of Physician Pain Care provide quality, cutting edge, personalized service to patients suffering from chronic pain. We offer Epidural and Facet Joint Injections, Spinal Cord Stimulation, Lumbar and Medial Branch Blocks, Radiofrequency Ablation, SI Joint Injections, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, Transforaminal Epidural Injections, and BOTOX injections for migraine headaches.
We treat patients in Woodstock, Canton and Marietta, Georgia. Many patients visit us from Jasper, Ellijay, Cumming, and Roswell, GA. Please call (770) 516-7880 to schedule an appointment or request additional information on any of our services or procedures.