Joint pain sufferers enjoy life again in Asheboro NC

People in Asheboro NC who suffer from joint pain understand how it can limit every aspect of how well you can enjoy your life. Everyday movements, such as walking, sitting, bending, reaching, turning, affect the way in which you attack the most normal activities, such as getting out of bed, getting dressed, combing your hair, and performing daily chores. When your joints hurt, everything seems difficult. Just a normal part of aging, you say? Not necessarily so.

Aging does not have to hurt

Despite what many assume, we do not have to spend our later years suffering from joint pain. With so many treatment options available for joint pain, ranging from exercise and physical therapy to joint surgery, many Asheboro NC residents can now enjoy full and active lives well into their old age. Creaky, achy joints can be a thing of the past with proper treatment and certain changes in lifestyle.

Joint pain and osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of joint pain. It is due largely to aging and wear and tear on a joint. Cartilage is the firm, rubbery tissue that cushions your bones at the joints and allowing bones to glide over one another. When cartilage breaks down and wears away, the bones rub together. Pain, swelling, and stiffness follow. Bony spurs or extra bone may form around the joint. Ligaments and muscles around the joint become weaker and stiffer. This is the onset of osteoarthritis, and it usually appears in middle age. Almost everyone has at least some joint pain by age 70, but many times it is minor and requires no more than an occasional over the counter pain reliever to keep it under control.

Common causes of joint pain

Sports injuries are the most common cause of knee joint pain, but anyone can injure their knee badly, not just professional athletes. Knee injuries are very common and are often a result of a quick twist or a blow to the knee, or overuse of the knee joint. Knee injuries can persist for years and be disruptive to your way of life unless proper diagnosis and treatment is received.  Recovery from many knee joint injuries can take a long time but proper healing is essential avoid joint pain later in life.

Shoulder joint pain is also very common, since the shoulder joint is used a lot in everyday activity. Normal range of motion to the shoulder joint is incredibly extensive, and when an injury or damage to the joint occurs from overuse, the joint becomes unstable. As with knee joints, pain, swelling and stiffness follow tissue damage. Unless treatment is undertaken before more serious damage is sustained, joint surgery is often necessary to relive shoulder joint pain.

Hip joint pain, also often caused by overuse damage which ultimately develops into osteoarthritis, is a common precursor to hip replacement surgery. The hip joint is designed to bear your body weight and propel you forward as you walk and bend. Because the hip joint has little healing capacity, joint pain can be severe.

Joint pain a common complaint

The human body does a great job of healing itself, so when joint pain occurs, most people simply take over-the-counter medications for their pain and wait for it to get better. With joint pain, however, it is important to be examined by orthopedic surgeons in Asheboro NC who can determine the cause of joint pain and prescribe effective treatment.  Joint pain rarely goes away by itself.

While most orthopedic surgeons treat joint pain, at least initially, with medications and other non-surgical treatment such as physical therapy, cortisone treatments, or diet and exercise, the time may come when your joint pain becomes intolerable and orthopedic surgery is your only option. It may be time to consider joint replacement surgery.

If non-surgical treatment has not brought you relief from joint pain, your orthopedic surgeons may recommend that your damaged joint be replaced with an artificial joint. These artificial joints, fashioned out of metal and plastic, can be as good as the real thing, restoring movement and function. 

Anatomic ACL surgery treats ACL tear in Asheboro NC

Among athletes, ACL tear is the most common knee injury. They hurriedly visit their Asheboro NC orthopedic doctors for consultation and treatment. ACL tear is usually seen in basketball, football and soccer. These sports require players to make quick stops and turns as they play. These movements can easily twist or hyperextend the knees.

Function of the knee

The knee is one of the most used joint of the body and one of the most easily injured. In order for the knee to maintain stability and function properly, there are four large ligaments that need to be intact. However, as it is subjected to high impact movement, the pressure exerted on the ligaments may cause it to be torn.

ACL injury symptoms and treatment

After an ACL tear, one will feel pain, swelling and instability. Within a few hours, the swelling gets bigger, the range of motion is decreased and tenderness and pain along the joint line increases.

Orthopedic doctors treat ACL injuries with non-surgical rehabilitation and surgery. ACL sprains and strains usually receive non-surgical treatment. Treatment includes immobilization of the knee to stabilize the joint. At this point, crutches are worn. When non-surgical treatments fail to restore function, surgery is then generally required.

ACL Surgery and Anatomic ACL Surgery

An ACL tear is not repaired using the suture procedure, which is sewn back together. The reason why is that repaired ACLs typically fail over time. ACL reconstruction on the other hand, is done by replacing a torn ligament with a graft made of tendon. It is a highly successful procedure that restores the function of the torn ligament and create knee stability. ACL reconstruction uses a surgical instrument called an arthroscope. It allows a surgeon to enter the joint using a tiny camera. Anatomic ACL is an advance ACL reconstruction procedure performed by experts.

Anatomic ACL surgery is a difficult procedure to perform and is not yet widely practiced by many surgeons. However, with this procedure, the patient’s recovery time is significantly reduced.

As the cases of ACL tears increase, it is not surprising the ACL surgery is becoming an area of focus in the field of orthopedics and sports medicine surgery. 

Subvastus knee replacement method a success in Asheboro NC

We all know that surgeries are a complex matter. It is a proven method of treating injuries and other forms of illness. As far as knee surgery is concerned, damaged tissue and bone are removed. These parts are replaced with man-made prosthesis with the purpose of restoring the normal motion and function of the damaged part.

Orthopedic surgeons are using a new approach in knee replacement surgery. It is known as subvastus knee replacement. Through this procedure, knee pain is eliminated. In this procedure, incisions will still have to be done to remove the damaged bone and muscles.

The difference between subvastus knee replacement surgery and traditional method is that the traditional method cuts through muscles and tendons of the knee joint. In the subvastus approach, cutting these muscles and tendons are avoided. Instead of cutting them, they are moved aside during the operation.

The result is that the incision is much smaller, post-operative pain is significantly reduced and the strength is maintained because of lessened surgical trauma. Additional benefits of subvastus knee replacement are practical ones. Hospital stay and costs are decreased, faster rehabilitation and smaller surgical scars. In fact, subvastus knee replacement patients reported that their quadriceps improved in strength, better motion and less pain medication.

Subvastus knee replacement is just one option among many knee surgery options. Dr. Megan Swanson and her team of professionals at RandolphOrthopedics and Sports Medicine in Asheboro NC are more than capable of performing such surgery.

You can call or visit them personally for a consultation regarding subvastus knee replacement. From them, you can get competent information coupled of years of experience. Through their care, it can be determined if you require subvastus knee replacement or not.

Shoulder pain patients get arthroscopic treatment in Asheboro NC

We all know our shoulders are the most mobile joint in our body. So, it is painful, we surely find it very difficult to move our arms around. If moving your arms above your head and behind your back is painful, seek help right away from local Asheboro NC orthopedic doctors.

Causes of shoulder pain

The most often cause of shoulder pain is a torn rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is made up of four tendons that pass underneath a rigid bony arch in the shoulder. When these tendons become trapped under this arch, we feel pain. We should be careful since compressed tendons become damaged or inflamed. This condition is known as rotator cuff tendonitis. Rotator cuff tendonitis is the result of injury, aging and repetitive work or motion.

Arthritis is also a major cause of shoulder pain. Arthritis in the joints around the shoulder is called bursitis. Another cause of shoulder pain is known as the frozen shoulder syndrome. This happens when tendons, muscles and ligaments stiffen up inside the shoulder. This makes motion difficult and painful. Dislocation and fractures to the shoulder bones are other causes of shoulder pain as well.

Shoulder arthroscopy

If experiencing shoulder pain for more than two weeks despite treatment, consult with our doctors. Depending on your case, orthopedic doctors may perform shoulder arthroscopy to determine the cause, extent of damage and treatment. This procedure involves an arthroscope, a small camera used to examine our shoulder. Shoulder arthroscopy is a surgery done to smoothen rough bone surfaces, restore joint stability and repair rotator cuff tears.

If the pain you are experiencing in your shoulders are very persistent, it is probably the right time to consult with an orthopedic doctor. Orthopedic doctors diagnose and create a treatment program for shoulderpains.