WHETHER
you’re walking
down the street or climbing up some
stairs, moving your knee or hip
shouldn’t make you wince in pain.
But that’s exactly what can happen
when arthritis wears away the shock-
absorbing cartilage at the
ends of bones in a hip or
knee joint.
And it’s no way to live.
“Dealing with pain in a
joint, or even several joints,
is no way to live,” says
Dr. Mes n Shibeshi, an orthopedic
surgeon at Southern Virginia Ortho-
pedics (SVO). “Joint pain decreases
quality of life and keeps people from
doing activities they enjoy and, in
some cases, activities they need to
do each day for work or day-to-day
living.”
If hip or knee pain has become
a part of your life, here’s welcome
news. ere are more ways to ease
your pain than you might realize.
Here are some of the most e ective
strategies:
Trim down.
If you’re overweight,
those extra pounds place extra stress
on weight-bearing joints, like the hip
and knee. Losing weight reduces that
stress and can curb pain.
Give your hip and knee some
TLC.
Rest your joints and do your
best to avoid any activity that makes
your pain worse. Applying heat or
cold to your joint—for example, by
using warm towels or cold packs—
can also ease pain. Check with your
doctor to see whether you should try
heat, cold or both.
Make all the right moves.
Appro-
priate exercise—speci cally, physical
activity that strengthens the muscles
that support your hip or knee but
doesn’t stress them—can help you
move more comfortably and freely.
For a customized exercise program
that can help you improve range of
motion and relieve pain, your doctor
may refer you to a physical therapist.
Partner with your doctor for
pain relief.
Many di erent medicines
ease arthritis pain, and your doctor
can help nd the right match for you.
You might be able to control your
pain with over-the-counter or pre-
scription pain relievers. If not, your
doctor may recommend a corticoste-
roid injection into your joint, which
can reduce in ammation and pain.
Is it time for surgery?
If steps like these don’t help—and
your pain is severe—your doctor
Is joint pain slowing you down?
Southern Virginia Orthopedics can get you
moving again. Call
434-572-4074
.
may advise surgery to replace
your damaged knee or hip with an
arti cial one. As many as 4 out of 5
people who undergo replacement
surgery are completely pain-free
within a year, the American Asso-
ciation of Hip and Knee Surgeons
reports. But even with an increas-
ingly speedy recovery, it is still
major surgery. So be sure to care-
fully explore its pros and cons with
your doctor.
“Assessing joint pain is a process,”
says Dr. Shibeshi. “Sometimes that
process ends in surgery and some-
times it doesn’t. Joint pain is not
the same from patient to patient, so
individual evaluation results in the
best treatment and outcome for the
patient.”
Dr. Shibeshi is one of ve or-
thopedic surgeons at SVO. e
practice specializes in general
orthopedics, arthroscopic surgery,
total and partial replacement, and
hand surgery.
w
3
Get back
to your
passion
Say goodbye to
hip and knee pain
