Knee Arthritis Treatment in New Jersey

Knee arthritis is a serious medical condition in which the articular cartilage in one of your knee joints wears down, causing two or more bones in the joint to rub against each other. When you move your knee, friction in the joint causes inflammation and intense knee pain. The damage to the cartilage is irreversible, but it is possible to treat your pain while you take steps to repair or mitigate the damage.

Early diagnosis can slow the progress of your knee arthritis. And the sooner you get diagnosed, the sooner you can receive pain management treatments. Consult an arthritis specialist for knee injuries because sometimes something as simple as a sprained knee may be due to arthritis. Redefine Healthcare in New Jersey offers various treatments to address conditions that can be indicative of arthritis, including:

• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Back pain
• Hip pain
• Foot pain

Arthritis actually has over 100 varieties, all of which may be caused by different factors. If you’re experiencing knee pain, you need a timely diagnosis. A top pain management specialist, like those at Redefine Healthcare, determines if your pain is due to patellofemoral pain syndrome, patellar tendonitis, or an ACL or meniscus tear. Sometimes, foot arthritis advances to other joints.

If you suffered an injury, your doctor works to find out whether the injury caused your knee arthritis or whether it was the opposite. Understanding the onset of the condition determines which arthritis treatment is right for you. The seven most common knee arthritis types are:

• Osteoarthritis. This degenerative joint disease affects more than 32 million Americans.
  
• Post-traumatic arthritis. Trauma or frequent injuries to your knees and ligaments can lead to your cartilage breaking down over time.
  
• Rheumatoid arthritis. This is an autoimmune condition that causes your own immune system to start attacking healthy tissues.
  
• Psoriatic arthritis. Sufferers of psoriasis, a skin condition, can develop psoriatic arthritis, which is another type of autoimmune disease.
  
• Gout. This condition is caused by the build-up of uric acid crystals in the soft tissues of a knee joint. It leads to severe pain, swelling and redness.
  
• Pseudogout. This is another disease caused by the build-up of calcium pyrophosphate crystals. Although less common than gout, pseudogout most often affects knee joints.
  
• Reactive arthritis. A stomach bug or a sexually transmitted disease can cause this form of arthritis in the days, weeks or even months after the infection has cleared up.

Arthritis is usually seen as an old age disease, as the condition develops due to the constant wear and tear of the cartilage in the affected joint. Women suffer more from osteoarthritis than men, although men get gout much more often. Children too can be diagnosed with arthritis, as pediatric rheumatoid arthritis affects some 300,000 US kids.

Other risk factors for knee arthritis include:

• Genes, if you have a family history of knee conditions;
• Obesity;
• Repetitive injuries;
• Trauma to the knee joint;
• Repetitive joint movements;
• Autoimmune triggers;
• Deformities, such as knock knee or bowleg;
• Diabetes;
• High cholesterol;
• Hemochromatosis;
• A vitamin D deficiency.