There can be numerous possible causes of joint pain and one of the most prevalent is osteoarthritis, which develops when the cartilage between your bones breaks down and causes the bones to scrape against one another. Pain, swell-ups, and stiffness may result from this. Injuries, bacterial infections, bursitis, and other forms of arthritis are additional reasons for joint discomfort. What may have started as a twinge in your shoulder when you reach above your head or an ache in your knee or hip can become chronic and interfere with your day-to-day activities.At that point, you may start to consider whether joint replacement is an option for you. With age and lifestyle choices, humans experience different kinds of body pains and diseases, some of them come and go, and some demand adequate attention and treatment. Joint pain is a problem that is very prominent in various age groups. Let's understand what causes it and how it is treated.

Joint pain is the discomfort felt in various body joints like hands, shoulders, knees, hips, or spine.The joints feel sore, stiff, or achy with a burning or throbbing sensation. This pain can be constant or may come and go.

Joint pain happens to those who have a history of injuries. A person who is overweight, stressed, or who suffers from a chronic medical condition can experience joint pain. Age is also a very important factor. Middle-aged or older adults may suffer from joint pain due to wear and tear on joints because of overusing a muscle.

Sometimes the pain in your joints may suppress or disappear by medications or with some daily exercise. But, surgery is the last resort for relief in many cases. There are various recommendations like home remedies, weight loss, painkillers, changes in diets, physical therapy, steroids, and antidepressants to get relief in pain.

In cases where the above treatment doesn't work and the pain is still persistent, joint pain surgery is the only choice. We all are aware that surgeries need professional help and can get expensive as well. There are various villages and rural areas in India where this facility is not even available. We can only imagine the helplessness of a patient in pain. Here is where the Shantabaa Medical College And General Hospital stepped up to solve this problem.

SMCGH recently Introduced joint pain surgeries for patients in rural Gujarat who were deprived of such facilities and needed surgical attention. The best thing is, all of it is provided at zero cost. They came across many patients who got into some accident, or the one who is suffering from constant joint pain, especially the aged people who were in urgent need of treatment. SMCGH took up the challenge and assembled a team of highly skilled professionals and surgeons who can pull this through and provide relief to the patients.

As of today, many successful joint pain surgeries which solve different problems are already performed and we cannot be more proud of SMCGH and its team of professionals.

Plating:This is a type of internal fixation. plates work like a splinter that holds the broken pieces of bones together. Used to treat severe bone fractures.

Nailing: The surgery where the broken parts of bone are nailed together with the help of a nail or road to keep them stable and in place.

K-wire: Kirschner wires (k-wires) are stiff, straight wire-like pins that are used to hold broken bones in place until they heal.

PEN: percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is a method where a mild electric current is used to apply pressure around painful areas with the help of acupuncture needles

Herbert Screw: This is a headless screw made from titanium used in the internal fixation of unstable scaphoid fractures.

THR: Total Hip Replacement is a surgery where the parts of the hip joint, both ball and the socket are removed and replaced by an artificial implant.

TKR: Total Knee Replacement is a procedure where all four parts of the knee joints are removed and replaced by metal and plastic implants.

Elbow Replacement: Here the damaged elbow joints are surgically removed and replaced by prosthetic components.

TBW: Tension Band Wiring is a procedure used to fix transverse fractures. It is an internal fixation used for bone healing.

I/L/N: Interlocking Nail Fixation is a method used to repair diaphyseal fractures of long bones by inserting screws from one cortex through holes in the nail up to the opposite cortex.

External fixator: This is a stabilizing frame to hold the broken bones in a proper position. The rod is screwed into the bones and exits the body to form a frame.

All of these surgeries were successfully executed with the help of orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthesia experts. Patients are given before and after care medical services until recovery. Below is the list of surgeries that were successfully performed by the Department in the approxi mate period of the first 40 days from the outset of this service at SMCGH, Amreli.

-- 65-year-old Ritaben Doshi was suffering from acute pain in her knee for a long time and was unable to walk properly. The pain in her right knee was unbearable and was getting worse. She recently decided to go for a knee replacement surgery under the consultation of SMCGH doctors and now within 15 days of the surgery she can walk again pain-free.

-- 45-year-old Sampatbhai had a fracture in his hip joint which was 1.5 years old. He was unable to sit or walk properly. Hip joint replacement surgery was performed on him by professionals and he was finally freed from the suffering. The patient and his family were so happy with the overwhelming results.

These are the stories that inspire people at SMCGH every day to reach more people and work for the betterment of society. Nothing must be more satisfactory than the freedom from the pain they provide to the patient through such treatments. Shantabaa Medical College and General Hospital aim at executing many such endeavours in the future with the help and support of its various departments. Their vision is a healthy rural India and they are surely getting closer each day!