Perhaps you’re not jumping out of bed like you used to, or maybe you’re taking more escalators and elevators because you find stairs to be challenging.
These are just two of the many signs that you might be dealing with some form of arthritis, which is diagnosed in more than 54 million adults in the United States. It’s no coincidence that chronic pain affects more than 51 million Americans — arthritis is a leading driver of chronic pain.
Since May is Arthritis Awareness Month in the US, our team of board-certified pain management specialists at Pain Medicine Consultants takes a deeper dive into the often uncomfortable world of arthritis and how it can lead to progressively worse chronic pain.
It’s important to first understand what we’re up against with arthritis, which is far from a single condition. In reality, arthritis is a catchall category for more than 100 different diseases that cause problems in your joints.
A good way to break this down is by dividing arthritis into categories, including:
For the purposes of this discussion, we’re going to focus on progressive and degenerative forms of arthritis that get worse over time and often lead to chronic pain.
Whether we refer to it as progressive, degenerative, or as wear-and-tear, the point is the same — these types of arthritis get worse over time and with use. And like all other forms of arthritis, there’s no cure, which leaves us to treat the problem by managing the symptoms. These symptoms include:
This first sign of degenerative arthritis is an obvious one and certainly contributes to chronic pain: joint pain. This pain can come and go — it might flare with activity — but it often becomes a more constant presence as time moves on.
The inflammation inside your arthritic joint is what accounts for your pain, but you might also develop outward swelling. Perhaps your knee puffs up after a long walk or you awake with a swollen ankle after a long day on your feet.
Over time, the damage in the joint can become so severe that it becomes tender and painful to the touch.
This sign of degenerative arthritis is very common — your affected joints become stiff and you slowly lose range of motion.
A joint in distress can create changes in the skin near that joint. More specifically, you might feel more heat around your joints with arthritis, or there could be more redness in the area.
This last item isn’t really a symptom, but an end result of the symptoms we outlined above.
We started this conversation with different scenarios — climbing stairs and getting out of bed. These are just two examples of how arthritis can affect your daily living. Sometimes, even opening a bottle can be difficult if you have stiff fingers and no grip due to arthritis in your hands.
If any of the above sounds all too familiar, it’s a good bet that you’re dealing with arthritis. For confirmation and solutions that will help you move more easily and comfortably, we invite you to contact us at one of our offices in Pleasant Hill, Corte Madera, or Pleasanton, California, to schedule an appointment today.
