Joint Pain Information
For Every Body…
This is information on joint pain, put together in lay-people’s terms, easy to read and understand so that you may take quick, decisive action, with a better informed level of certainty and confidence…
I am Dr. Jo Martin-Brownlie, a retired chiropractor, with over twenty years of experience in my field…
On this site I have included descriptions and some ‘how to’ information. I am also, of course, a strong advocate for chiropractic and other models in medicine, holisitic and allopathic, where appropriate…
Knowing who you need and when, will save you time and money, and hopefully add to the efficiency of your treatment and recovery…
Take Positive Action
Through Assessment…
- Assess your pain…
- Find out what you can do for yourself…
- How to best manage the pain until it resolves or requires professional attention…
- Learn signs, symptoms and healing timelines…
- Know with certainty if you require the care of a professional… or need the ER!…
Different types of back pains , knee joint pain, elbow joint pain, hip joint pain, up to neck pain or down to foot pain may imply sprains, strains, misalignment, or other associated and more serious disease processes…
Included also is a page on back pain relief; these are things you can do in your own home…
Different signs and symptoms are best addressed by doctors with varying specialties and treatment regimes. Guidance is included on each page so you will know what you need and who you need…should you need them…
Navigating your way through the site will help you to understand more about joint pain, while keeping these things in mind…
Joint Pain Can Be
Tricky To Diagnose…
Joint pain can be a tricky diagnosis due to the phenomenon of referred pain. Referred pain is pain the shows up in one part of the body, but the origin of this pain is in another part of the body…
Lets say this guy in the picture has a pain in his erector spinae (the long muscles that run up and down the back)…
There would be several questions to answer if the pain was not from an obvious rip or tear during a work-out…
For example, pain in this case could have something to do with the spine itself, but it might have to do with his kidneys or other internal organs, bones etc…
- Kidney stones…?
- Steroid usage imposing on kidneys and other internal organs…?
- Cracked vertabrae from over-training…?
- Something simple like a muscle spasm…?
Did you know kidney stones can cause severe back pain…?
If the type of pain you are experiencing cannot be treated “over the counter”, I can show you how to get the best treatment possible by giving you the information you need in order to communicate your symptoms clearly…
Clear communication is so important…
Do you know that most practitioners have a 7-10 minute assessment window? In this day and age, ‘It hurts here,’ Doc’ will set you up for a less than productive diagnostic session…
Also …
Doctors and other health care practitioners are trained to start with the most conservative approach to treatment…so…
It is of prime urgency that you give clear, detailed and concise information if you want optimal treatment…
For example it is possible that you, after several visits to your doctor, have ended up with a handful of painkillers, when in actual fact, you are in need of an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in order to pinpoint the cause of pain, and get the correct course of treatment…
This might end up being surgery…so
Increased knowledge is the best chance you have of saving time, money, and lowering your frustration and stress levels; which, by themselves can actually increase your joint pain.
Simple Or Serious…?
Know The Difference!
Joint pain can be caused by a simple misalignment within the structure of the joint or, it can signal a much more serious condition, urgently requiring advanced treatment…
Cauda Equina syndrome is one of those conditions…
Read more about this condition on the back pains page…
Being prepared with your information, and having the language to communicate with your practitioner will help you to help yourself…
Informed and efficient communication from you will provide you and your loved ones with better care, in, hopefully, a shorter time frame…
Quality Input Gets
Quality Output…
When you give accurate descriptions of your pain cycles you can expect more from your session with the doc, chiro or physio…
Should your assessment lead you to the decision that you need to see a physician, your quality input during assessment will demand better quality output from your doctor or practitioner…
- Know if you need your doctor, or if you can manage the pain on your own…
- Know how to give quality, detailed information to your doctor; hopefully assisting them them to help you with greater efficiency. …
Its your body, you should know in basic terms what is happening with it in order to make informed choices. In today’s world, blind compliance is like blind faith (it can be full of negative surprises) and may not get you the best care…
Better information and knowledge hones your decision making skill, which will serve you in taking positive action, moving forward, and out of joint pain.
A Pain Journal
Is A Legal Document…
As I had mentioned earlier, joint pain can be tricky to diagnose with a new doctor who does not know you except for the seven minute treatment window…
Keeping a pain journal can facilitate you getting the best care possible…
When you add entries, simply write the time and use simple language to describe what is going on…
You do not have to know the medical language…
Just describe the pain the best you can in your journal and believe it or not, this can help your doctor enormously whether they have known you for seven years or seven minutes…
This is because diagnosis relies heavily on the type of pain you are having and for how long you have had it and what has changed during that time…
If you put the journal in front of a doctor, they can look at it quickly, copy it for their charts and give you a more thorough examination, as well as rule out several dimensions of possibility…
And believe me, when it comes to joint pain, there are many dimensions a treating doctor must consider in a very short time period…
Your journal will also serve as a legal document and will hold up in court should you be mistreated…
So keep an accurate (do not perjure yourself by embellishing the facts please) timed and dated journal to get the most optimal session with your doctor…
For More Information regarding various back pains, please click to have a look at these pages:
- upper back pain
- severe back pain
- lower back pain treatment
- back pain exercises
- back pain relief
- back pain symptoms
- herniated disc
This site has also been put together in the form of a Kindle book and a paperback as well, and can be ordered through Amazon on the top left hand side of any site page for those of you who prefer books instead of the web…
There are no illustrations in the book, (due to e-book and print restrictions) but you can cross reference with the site if you need to. Some of the pages are directly linked to the site to make this easy if you are using the kindle app.
Exclusive to the book are juice and soup recipes that will help you to reduce inflammation and cleanse your joints and the rest of your body too…!
For Kindle users – We will be adding information from time to time and you should be able to recieve a free update…