Joints are the places where two or bones connect. Your shoulders, knees, elbows, hips and knucles are joints, and your spine has them as well. 

The joints aren’t just bones, they have soft tissues around them, such as cartilage, tendons and ligaments. 

Cartilage is the flexible tissue that covers the ends of your bones at a joint. Tendons are like a bridge between your muscles and your bones, a flexible band that connects everything so you can move your joints. And ligaments are another kind of bridge that connects the bones of the joints to each other, to keep you stable when you move. 

You can have diseases or injuries that affect your joints, causing joint dysfunction. Injuries like overuse of the joints. accidents or sports injury.  All of these alternatives can cause joint dysfunction.

What are the most common dysfunctions and disorders that can affect the joints? 

There are a few diseases that can cause joint dysfunction as they often cause pain and make the joint stiff, red or swollen. Most of the diseases are chronic, lasting a long time and may never go away completely. Some of the diseases that can affect the joints are: 

• Arthritis – it cause joint pain and swelling. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of the disease. Over time, it can cause severe joint damage, but it can affect people of all ages – a joint injure when you’re younger can cause osteoarthritis when you get older. 
• Lupus – this autoimmune disease affects many parts of the body and can cause a lot of muscle and joint pain – and also can cause arthritis. 
• Bursitis – this disorder occurs by the inflammation of the bursa, the small fluid sac that serves as a cushion between the bones and other moving parts (like the joints), and can happen because of overuse or an increased activity level in the joint.
• Inflammation disorders – that are several types of disorders that can lead to a joint inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, sacroiliac joint dysfunction. 

What types of joint disorders happen from sudden injuries or overuse? 

Injuries and overuse can usually damage the soft tissues of the joint. They can happen when you’re practicing sports, or work too hard doing the same movements repetitively.

Sprains and strains are the most common disorder, since sprains are stretched or torn ligaments and strains are stretched or torn muscles or tendons. And dislocated joints happen when you push or pull the bones out of position. 

Joint overuse includes: 

• Bursitis – an inflammation on the bursa, a small fluid-filled sac that is between the bones of a joint and the parts around it, such muscles, tendons and skin. The bursa irritates and gets swollen. 
• Tendinitis – it happens when you overuse a tendon, making it swell and the joint painful to move. 
• Chronic strain – it becomes chronic when your muscles and tendons stretch or tear slowly over time from doing the same movements over and over again. 

What are the treatments for Joint Dysfunction? 

In case of diseases or injuries, you must look for a health provider to start the right treatment for your particular case, but most of them include medicines and physical therapies to relieve pain. 

For overuse joint injuries, usually includes: 

• Rest;
• Medicines;
• Aerobic, stretching and strengthening exercises;
• Physical Therapy and Chiropractic rehabilitation;
• Ice or heat applications to reduce inflammation and relieve pain and discomfort. 

You can keep your joints healthy by getting enough physical activity, to prevent or slow joint dysfunctions, strengthen the muscles and help them work better. 

When to seek a Specialist’s help? 

As we said, treatments depends on your particular case, and even if you do the things you should to help you with pain and it don’t go away, you should call your doctor if you:

• Have a lot of joint pain, swelling or numbness;
• Can’t put any weight on the joint;
• Have pain from an old injury with more swelling, an unstable joint or a joint that isn’t normal.

If you’re searching for the best chiropractic team to help you with your pain, here at Broadway Chiropractic and Wellness you’ll find the best specialists! 

Book an appointment and take the next step for your healthy life!