Virtua Health with Dr. Paz

Matt Cord speaks with Dr. Paz about joint pain.

Transcript

00:00Hey everybody, it's Matt Kort from Classic Rock 102.9 MGK and today we're joined by Dr. Paz,

00:06orthopedic surgeon at Virtual Health for many, many years. You know, Doc, my question is that

00:11well, we're all getting older and you know, there's the hip, there's the knee, my knees are

00:16shot, ankles. What causes all this joint pain that we're all experiencing? Well, there are

00:23multiple factors. You know, folks ask me that all the time and I see them in the office

00:27and they say, well, how did I get this arthritis? And I tell me, I tell them multiple things,

00:33prior activity, prior sports, prior injury, prior vocation. Believe it or not, family history

00:40factors into it. If your mom or dad had arthritis or needed a knee replacement or hip replacement,

00:46it's more likely that you might. Multiple things factor into joint pain and joint arthritis.

00:53Now that's some good information, but are there other ways to prevent these types of injuries,

00:58maybe like wearing something different or stretching or, you know, what else can we do,

01:02Dr. Paz? It's a good question. Believe it or not, activity and exercise, an arthritic joint,

01:08even a joint with pre-existing arthritis feels better, functions better with regular activity,

01:15regular athletics. So, so activity, number one, keep the joint mobile. Weight loss, I mean,

01:21it's something that's easy to talk about, not easy to do, but keeping your weight down, keeping the

01:28less weight on an arthritic or weight-bearing joint, the better it's going to feel. Those are probably

01:32two biggest factors, keeping active, keeping your weight down. All right, Dr. Paz, now let me ask you

01:38this one. So say like the pain's getting worse and the self-care routine isn't working. I mean,

01:43is the next step joint replacement? No, it's, it's never joint replacement. You know,

01:48when I see someone for the first time with knee arthritis or hip arthritis, you know, I talk to

01:53them about some of the things that we've already mentioned, you know, weight loss, exercise,

01:58physical therapy, if they need a little headstart with exercise. And then after that comes something

02:04that is invasive, injection. You know, there are different types of injections. The, the unfortunate

02:10thing about injections is, you know, I tell folks we can never predict how much an injection will help

02:16or how long it's going to last. When a patient has pain and dysfunction, interfering with their

02:22activities, their sleep, their hobbies, their habits, and they can't tolerate it anymore, joint

02:28replacement, you know, then it becomes an option. And really the patient tells me when they're at that

02:34point. I don't tell them. Great, Dr. Paz. Now also besides pain, like if you're experiencing pain and

02:40you're thinking about what should I do, I mean, when, when is the right time to know that I should

02:45see a specialist for this, for this problem? Well, pain far and away is the most important thing

02:50because that's what interferes with our function. But there are things like swelling, you know,

02:54swelling causes tightness and then kind of contributes to the pain, pain, swelling, and really

02:59dysfunction. Those are the major things and they impact you the most. And that's what leads people

03:08to come into the doctor. Dr. Paz, thank you so much for all your information. I think we learned a lot

03:13from, from one of the best and also download Virtua's guide to healthy joints for knee, hip,

03:18and shoulder at virtua.org slash healthy joints.