Joints are where bones meet. They make your bones flexible, and without them, you cannot move your body in different ways. Injury to the joints from illness or physical trauma can impair your movement and trigger pain.

Joint pain is common as you age. It can affect your shoulders, ankles, hips, feet, hands, and other body parts. The pain can be mild or incapacitating and may resolve after a few weeks (short-term) or last several months or longer (chronic).

What Is Causing Your Joint Pain?

Conditions such as osteoarthritis, bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, sprains, and strains can cause joint pain. Often, the pain comes from inflammation, stiffness, and loss of mobility.

Can Your Type of Chronic Joint Pain Spread to Other Body Parts?

Disorders like rheumatoid arthritis can affect other body parts, too. In some patients, it can damage the eyes, skin, heart, blood vessels, and lungs. Also, joint pain can spread from one joint to another. That is the case with migratory arthritis, where pain, swelling, stiffness, warmth, and soreness in one joint can affect another.

What Makes the Pain Worse?

Stress, overexertion (too much activity), rainy or cold weather, poor sleep, or infection can aggravate your joint pain. Also, eating foods that can cause inflammation can worsen your symptoms. These include pastries and white bread, fried foods and French fries, sugar-sweetened drinks and soda, processed meat, red meat, shortening, lard, and margarine.

What Makes the Pain Better?

Moderate physical activity can help relieve pain and improve sleep, mood, bone health, and overall body function. Maintaining a healthy weight by eating healthily and doing regular physical activity can help you manage your joint pain. Talking to your chiropractor also helps diagnose your pain and start treatment early.

What Is New in Treating Chronic Joint Pain?

Joint pain treatments have evolved over the years. In the past, patients relied on pain medications and had to wait until they were over 60 to get an artificial joint. These days, however, doctors can treat the cause of your joint pain, replace the missing parts, and provide therapeutic exercises. Moreover, artificial joint replacement only replaces the worn-out parts and leaves the rest of the joint intact.

Additionally, chiropractic care is an alternative to conventional treatment. Chiropractic treatment focuses on removing misalignments in the spine and joints. This reduces inflammation that causes joint pain. Talk to your chiropractor at M Powered Chiropractic for a personalized treatment plan for joint pain relief.

How Can You Beat Chronic Joint Pain?

Taking your prescribed medication, following your chiropractor's treatment plan, checking your weight, eating well, and staying active can help resolve your joint pain.

How Long Will Your Treatment Last?

Your treatment may be short-term or long-term based on the severity of your symptoms. There is no cure for arthritis, but treatment can help control it.

What Can You Expect in the Long-term?

Joint pain can arise from the normal aging process, infection, or a debilitating disorder like rheumatoid arthritis. Continuing treatment will help improve your life's quality.

How Should You Monitor Your Treatment’s Side Effects?

Attend regular checkups as recommended. Additionally, share your concerns with your doctor, who will monitor your progress.

Are There Risks to Not Treating Chronic Joint Pain at All?

The pain can worsen and interfere with your daily routine. You may have trouble working, sleeping, maintaining your social life, and caring for yourself or others.

For more on relieving chronic joint pain, visit M Powered Chiropractic at our office in Georgetown, Texas. Call (512) 548-4355 to book an appointment today.