If you have arthritis, you know just how much it can shrink your world. First, you stop taking the stairs because your knees hurt. Then a trip through the grocery store feels longer than it used to. Eventually, you may find yourself saying no to workouts, travel, or even time with family because you’re worried about how much your joint will hurt afterward.
Ashley M. Classen, DO, FAOCA, Ashley Bailey-Classen, DO, MBA, FAOCA, Dr. Gurtej Singh, and Eva J. Bailey, MD, don’t view arthritis treatment as just a means to lower your pain score. Instead, the Trinity Pain Medicine Associates team wants you to move, function, and live more comfortably.
Below, our team of double board-certified pain management physicians and anesthesiologists explains how our arthritis treatments can help improve joint function and mobility.
There’s no single “breakthrough” procedure that cures every type of arthritis. Instead, our pain management services offer multiple ways to target the specific structures and pain signals that contribute to your symptoms.
Your treatment depends on which joint hurts, the type and severity of your arthritis, and which therapies you’ve already tried.
Conservative care may include medications, activity modification, physical therapy, weight management, and therapeutic exercise. When those measures aren’t enough, we can explore more advanced options such as:
Sometimes we need to treat inflammation directly where it’s occurring. A corticosteroid injection places anti-inflammatory medication directly into or around your painful joint.
The relief isn’t necessarily permanent, but if we can reduce some pain, it can create an important window of opportunity. If walking, strengthening, or participating in physical therapy becomes more comfortable, you may be able to rebuild some of the function you’ve lost.
In other words, joint injections can reduce pain enough that you can get back into your physical therapy and exercise routines.
PRP therapy uses a concentrated portion of your own blood that contains platelets and growth factors involved in healing. These growth factors jumpstart your body’s natural repair response and potentially reduce arthritis pain and improve function.
A2M is a naturally occurring protein in your blood that can inhibit certain enzymes involved in cartilage breakdown. Concentrated A2M can be injected into an arthritic joint to protect cartilage and slow some degeneration.
Studies show that A2M injections can also help with pain. Specifically, study participants report pain relief (via the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain) at six and 12 weeks post-injection.
Amniotic-derived treatments contain biological materials, or biologics, such as growth factors that may support your body’s natural healing response. These biologics are intended to:
For this reason, amniotic-derived treatments may be included among therapies referred to as regenerative medicine or biologic treatments.
In some cases, surgery may be the best option to help improve your joint function. When possible, our team utilizes minimally invasive approaches. This means shorter recovery, less operative pain and bleeding, and a faster return to your favorite activities.
Imagine your knee pain drops from an eight to a four, but you still can’t comfortably walk to your mailbox. Has treatment achieved everything you hoped it would? Probably not.
That’s why we look beyond pain alone when measuring progress.
Besides pain relief, your goals might be to:
Pain relief and improved function matter because they let you do what you love again.
Arthritis may be chronic, but that doesn’t mean your only option is to accept progressively worsening pain and mobility.
Call our office at 817-332-3664 or request an appointment online to learn more about the arthritis treatment options available here in Fort Worth, Texas.
