If you have joint pain, you probably experience stiffness, swelling, and a lot of frustration. Lewis Frazier, Jr., MD, the board-certified physician at the helm of Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care, recognizes and relates to these issues, and wants to help. Dr. Frazier, Jr. diagnoses joint pain and prescribes the most effective treatments so you can resume normal activities fast. Call the Plano, Texas, office, to arrange your appointment today.

Joint Pain Q & A

What is joint pain?

Joint pain means mild, moderate, or severe pain where two bones connect. The human body contains 360 joints, each with its own network of tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles.

Some joints don’t move at all, while others have a wide range of movement. Your movable joints, including your hips, knees, shoulders, ankles, and spine, are also those where you’re most likely to experience acute or chronic pain.

What causes joint pain?

The most common causes of joint pain are:

  • Arthritis
  • Fractures
  • Dislocations
  • Tendinitis
  • Sprains
  • Lupus
  • Gout
  • Osteoporosis

Whether you have a sports injury that causes short-term joint pain or arthritis that leads to years of joint pain, the discomfort is treatable. Dr. Frazier, Jr. considers every aspect of your joint pain and then uses sophisticated diagnostic imaging to visualize the exact location and extent of joint damage and make a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation.

When do I need interventional pain management for joint pain?

Joint pain is generally a chronic problem that grows worse as you age. Increasing pain can make you hesitant to move normally, so you may steadily lose flexibility and strength.

If you’re no longer moving as well as you once did, if your joint’s badly swollen, if you have to avoid activities because of joint pain, or if your current treatments just aren’t working, Dr. Frazier, Jr. can help.

At Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care, Dr. Frazier, Jr. emphasizes effective joint pain treatments that don’t require difficult surgeries or extended recovery periods. The focus is on your function, both now and in the future.

How can epidural steroid injections treat joint pain?

Joint pain treatments depend on the amount of joint damage detected, how your joint pain affects your daily life, and other individual aspects of your joint disease. Dr. Frazier, Jr. may recommend epidural steroid injections because they can kill pain and help you move comfortably for perhaps several months at a time.

Dr. Frazier, Jr. administers epidural steroid injections directly into the epidural space, the area outside your spinal cord but still within the vertebral canal. Epidural steroid injections calm inflammation and decrease nerve activity to stop your pain.

Depending on the discs and nerves affected, epidural steroid injections can go into the epidural space within your neck or upper back (cervical injections), middle back (thoracic injections), or lower back (lumbar injections).

Other steroid injections can go into other specific areas like your muscles or facet joints if needed. Dr. Frazier, Jr. can also perform injections like medial branch blocks to confirm the exact area of pain as part of your diagnosis.

What are the other treatments for joint pain?

Some of the many nonsurgical treatment options available at Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care are:

Dr. Frazier, Jr. performs all treatments as outpatient procedures. To maximize your results, Dr. Frazier, Jr. also recommends physiotherapy. In some cases, he may also help you to make changes, like losing extra weight, take pressure off of your joints and greatly reduce the chances of recurring joint pain after your treatment.
If you have back pain, neck pain, knee pain, or other areas of joint pain and want a solution that doesn’t require an operation, call Tarpon Interventional Pain & Spine Care for an appointment today.