Clarksville TN Chiropractic Clinics Help Joint Inflammation
Joint inflammation is behind a lot of joint pain. What matters more is which kind it is, because that decides who should be treating it and how quickly. We're a chiropractic office in Clarksville, so we'll be upfront: some joint pain is ours to look at, and some belongs with a physician first.
When does joint inflammation need urgent care?
Get same-day medical care for any of these:
- A single joint that becomes hot, swollen and red over hours, particularly with fever or feeling generally unwell. An infected joint is a medical emergency and can destroy the joint within days.
- A joint that won't bear weight, or that gave way at the moment of an injury, or a joint that's visibly deformed.
- New numbness, pins and needles, or weakness in the limb below an affected joint.
See a medical doctor promptly about any of these:
- Joints that are stiff for more than an hour in the morning, particularly the small joints of the hands and feet, and particularly on both sides of the body
- Several joints becoming painful and swollen over weeks, instead of one joint after an injury you can point to
- Joint pain with a rash, unexplained fever, weight loss, or persistent fatigue
- Joint swelling that keeps returning without an injury that explains it
That second list points toward inflammatory arthritis instead of wear-related change, and with inflammatory arthritis the timing matters. Rheumatoid arthritis and related conditions respond considerably better to treatment started early, and that treatment is prescribed and monitored by a physician. So if your joints fit that list, see a physician before you see us.
What is joint inflammation?
Inflammation is the body's response to an injury or to an immune signal, and in the short term it's part of healing. It brings blood flow, immune cells and fluid to the area, which is why an inflamed joint is warm, swollen, painful and stiff. When it doesn't settle, the same process that was doing the repair becomes the problem.
How is osteoarthritis different from inflammatory arthritis?
Osteoarthritis involves changes in several tissues within a joint, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Pain can get worse with use, and stiffness can show up in the morning or after resting. How much it hurts and slows you down varies from person to person.
Rheumatoid arthritis is one example of inflammatory arthritis. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks the joint's own tissues. It often affects the small joints of the hands and feet, frequently on both sides, and the morning stiffness can last longer than it does with osteoarthritis. It can affect other parts of the body too.
These patterns overlap, and no list of symptoms can pin down what's causing your joint pain. Arthritis comes in many different types, and the other forms of inflammatory arthritis have their own patterns, causes and treatments. Figuring out which one you have is a physician's job.
Arthritis care beyond chiropractic
For rheumatoid arthritis, medical treatment does more than cover up pain for a while. Disease-modifying medicines can slow or change the course of the disease, and monitoring helps the medical team adjust treatment. Adjustments don't replace that plan, and please don't stop a prescribed medicine without talking to the doctor who prescribed it.
For osteoarthritis, exercise can help joint pain, stiffness, strength and function, and a doctor or physical therapist can help you pick a program that suits you. Questions about diet belong with your medical team or a registered dietitian, who can fit the answer to your condition and medications. That conversation is in addition to getting any swelling or inflammation that won't go away checked, and doesn't replace it.
What we look for in a chiropractic exam of a sore joint
When joint pain comes from how the joint moves and what it's carrying (the mechanical kind), a chiropractic exam generally looks at how that joint and the ones around it move, what loads it's under, and which movements set it off or ease it. In our office, we check for joint restriction, muscle tension, inflammation, and swelling in or around the joint. If stiffness, weak muscles around the joint or the way it's being loaded is part of the picture, those are things that can be worked on, and building strength in the muscles that support a joint is well supported for osteoarthritis in particular.
Here's where we draw the line. Hands-on treatment doesn't change the course of inflammatory arthritis, it doesn't replace the medicine that controls it, and it's not for an acutely hot, swollen joint. If your symptoms or our exam point to inflammatory arthritis or an infection, we'll refer you for medical evaluation instead of starting a treatment plan.
How safe is joint treatment, and what are the alternatives?
A realistic look at safety. Manual treatment of a joint is generally low risk, and the effects reported most often are short-lived soreness or stiffness afterward. Treating a joint that's actively inflamed, infected or unstable is a different matter. It's contraindicated, and that's why we examine before we treat.
The alternatives, and what each is good for. Medical assessment identifies inflammatory disease and gives access to the drugs that alter its course, and nothing we do substitutes for that. Physical therapy overlaps with what a chiropractic exam looks at and adds supervised progression. Weight management and graded exercise have good evidence in osteoarthritis of the knee and hip. And simple measures (heat, ice and changing your activity for a while) resolve a good deal of short-lived mechanical joint pain on their own.
If your joint pain changes with how you move or use the joint, and it doesn't match either list above, call our Clarksville office and we'll take a look. If it sounds more like the second list, start with a physician.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
2021 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis
People with rheumatoid arthritis, including recommendations for disease-modifying medication and management strategies.
What it foundTreatment recommendations center on disease-modifying medicines and monitoring disease activity, with decisions informed by the patient’s circumstances and preferences.
What it can't tell usMany recommendations are conditional. It isn't a study of manual therapy, and symptom relief from hands-on care can't show that an autoimmune disease is under control.
Publication details & citation
Fraenkel et al. 2021 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Care & Research. 2021. DOI: 10.1002/acr.24596.
Read the publication recordPhysical Therapy versus Glucocorticoid Injection for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
156 patients with knee osteoarthritis in the US military health system.
What it foundPatients assigned physical therapy had less pain and disability at one year than those assigned glucocorticoid injection.
What it can't tell usIt was a physical therapy trial in one particular setting. It doesn't show cartilage regeneration, and it doesn't vouch for every treatment offered for knee pain.
Publication details & citation
Deyle et al. Physical Therapy versus Glucocorticoid Injection for Osteoarthritis of the Knee. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1905877.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.