Do You Knee-d that Surgery?
Pain makes it hard to function and hard to focus. Whether it’s your knee, back, shoulder, hip or somewhere else, it’s hard to be in pain all the time. Orthopedic medicine treats the musculoskeletal system of the body including bones, joints, and muscles. While some conditions react well to surgical interventions, it’s important that you try other methods of treating pain before trying surgery. Discuss all of your options with your doctor prior to surgery, including the following:
- Physical Therapy: A trained physical therapist can help alleviate pain in the joints and muscles through targeted strengthening of muscles, massage, ultrasound and other techniques.
- Injections: Cortisone injections are a synthetic reproduction of a type of steroid that your body releases naturally. The injection is right at the site of the inflammation to help swelling go down, which in turn helps relieve the pain from the inflammation. It is injected at the site of the pain to reduce side effects and starts relieving pain within a few hours and lasts several weeks.
- Exercise: Just moving the sore and stiff joints can help move inflammation around and keep pain at bay. Find something gentle that works for you through consulting with your doctor and keep at it! The more you move the better you’ll feel. Walking, swimming, yoga, and tai chi are good places to start.
- Weight Loss: Reducing the weight that the joints are bearing will make a big difference to the pain, but it’s also great for overall health.
- Over the Counter Pain Relievers: Make sure you discuss dosages with your physician, but temporary pain relief from ibuprofen and aspirin can help you get moving.
- Massage Therapy: A trained massage therapist can do wonders for sore and achy joints. Keeping blood flowing to the painful places will help the body repair itself.
Of course if you’ve already tried some, or all, of these things without relief, you’ll need to consult with your physician about the next step, and orthopedic surgery may be a great option for you. At Brigham City Community Hospital our team of skilled and experienced physicians works with physical therapists to provide high-quality surgical and non-surgical treatment options.
Contact us today to schedule an appointment at (855) 796-0593 and see how your life can be improved.