Arthritis

What is arthritis?

Arthritis causes discomfort and distress to millions of Americans and is one of the most common causes of musculoskeletal pain.

Arthritis isn’t a single condition. In fact, there are dozens of different types of arthritis. They can affect specific joints or be more widespread, and there is some variation in symptoms between different kinds of arthritis. However, all forms of arthritis cause chronic, worsening joint pain, inflammation, and stiffness.

What kinds of arthritis are there?

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two most common arthritic conditions. Osteoarthritis tends to develop in older people because it’s a result of the effects of wear and tear on your joints over the years.

Rheumatoid arthritis isn’t as common as osteoarthritis but still brings misery to hundreds of thousands of people every year. It typically sets in at a younger age, because the cause is an immune system dysfunction.

There are over 100 forms of arthritis in all, although some are very rare.

What treatments are there for arthritis?

There’s no cure for arthritis, and in most cases, the disease is progressive, which means it gets worse over time. Thankfully, Dr. Goldstein provides a range of therapies that can ease the pain and stiffness and restore joint function.

Taking care of yourself is fundamental to managing arthritis, so if you have any bad habits like smoking, drinking too much, or not exercising very often, now’s the time to make some changes. If you’re overweight, it puts tremendous strain on your joints, which is the last thing you need if you have arthritis, so talk to Dr. Goldstein about managed weight loss programs.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet, managing your stress, and making time for regular, gentle exercise can all make a significant difference in how you feel. Some patients also find they benefit from the use of complementary and alternative medicine, such as homeopathy.

To further ease arthritic pain and improve mobility, Dr. Goldstein provides treatments including:

• Pain-relieving medications
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• Physical therapy
• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
• Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy
• Hyaluronic acid injections
• Steroid injections

Regenerative medicine techniques like PRP and stem cell injections are a particularly promising treatment for conditions like arthritis. They work by stimulating new tissue growth, using the power of growth factors and other cells that occur naturally in the human body.

Find out more about Dr. Goldstein’s effective nonsurgical treatments for arthritis management by calling Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, PC, today, or book an appointment online.