Joint Pain
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South Coast Sports and Spine Medicine
Tariq Hilal, DO
Sports and Spine Physician located in Orange and Los Angeles County, Los Alamitos, CA
Joint pain might be due to an acute injury or develop over time if you have a condition like osteoarthritis. When joint pain is affecting your life, expert sports and spine medicine physician Tariq Hilal, DO, of South Coast Sports and Spine Medicine in Los Alamitos, California, can help. Dr. Hilal offers a range of non-surgical treatments for joint pain, including PRP injections and prolotherapy, using ultrasound image guidance technology. For effective relief of your joint pain, call South Coast Sports and Spine Medicine or book an appointment online today.
Joint Pain Q & A
What causes joint pain?
Your joints are a combination of bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments that work in harmony to give you mobility. Injuries or diseases affecting any of these structures result in reduced function and joint pain.
Some common causes of joint pain include:
- Bursitis
- Tendinitis
- Fibromyalgia
- Dislocations
- Ligament sprains
- Meniscus tears
- Torn labral cartilage
- Arthritis
Of these, arthritis is responsible for most cases of chronic joint pain.
What type of arthritis could be causing my joint pain?
Of the 100 or so kinds of arthritis, those most likely to affect you are:
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis results from years of wear and tear that erodes the protective articular cartilage covering the ends of your bones. Robbed of their protection, your bones begin rubbing against each other inside your joints, causing inflammation, pain, stiffness, and swelling.
Rheumatoid arthritis
The autoimmune disorder rheumatoid arthritis develops when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in your joint linings as though they were harmful invading organisms. The result is persistent inflammation that causes joint pain and distortion.
Other fairly common types of arthritis include psoriatic arthritis, gout, and septic arthritis. You can also get arthritis in the facet joints that link the vertebrae in your spine, and arthritis is a symptom of certain autoimmune disorders like lupus.
To diagnose your joint pain, Dr. Hilal performs a physical examination and reviews your symptoms and medical history. He confirms the diagnosis and assesses the extent of the damage using advanced imaging tools such as diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound.
What treatments can help with joint pain?
Initially, Dr. Hilal is likely to recommend conservative measures such as physical therapy, lifestyle changes, and bracing to relieve your joint pain.
If these approaches aren't successful, or you have a degenerative condition like arthritis, you might require interventional procedures to alleviate your joint pain. Dr. Hilal uses ultrasound-guided injectable treatments such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and prolotherapy, and if these are ineffective, he can use corticosteroids.
Dr. Hilal's expertise in joint injections offers relief from pain in any joint in your body, from knees, shoulders, and hips to toes and fingers.
If you have joint pain, take advantage of effective, non-surgical solutions by calling South Coast Sports and Spine Medicine or book an appointment online today.
