Joint Pain
Joint pain can turn simple movements into frustrating ones. Many people find relief and improved mobility through joint pain physical therapy. Walking up the stairs, reaching into a cabinet, getting out of a chair, exercising, or even getting comfortable at night may suddenly require more thought than it used to. Sometimes joint pain begins after an injury. Other times, it develops gradually without one obvious cause. You may notice aching in your knees after walking, hip pain when standing up, shoulder discomfort when reaching overhead, or stiffness in your ankles when you first get moving.
No matter how it starts, pain often leads people to move less. Unfortunately, avoiding movement for too long can lead to weakness, stiffness, and even more difficulty returning to normal activities. At Reform Physical Therapy, joint pain physical therapy focuses on figuring out what is limiting your movement and creating a plan to help you get back to the activities that matter to you.
What Is Joint Pain?
A joint is an area where two or more bones meet. Your joints allow your body to bend, rotate, absorb force, and move through everyday activities. Joint pain can involve the joint itself or structures surrounding it, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and other soft tissues. Because so many structures work together, pain around a joint does not automatically tell us exactly which structure is causing the problem. That is where a physical therapy evaluation can help.
What Causes Joint Pain?
Joint pain has many possible causes. Some symptoms develop after a clear injury, such as twisting an ankle or landing awkwardly while playing a sport. Others develop gradually because of repeated activity, changes in strength or mobility, arthritis, or increasing physical demands. Possible causes include osteoarthritis, sprains, muscle or tendon injuries, bursitis, overuse injuries, joint stiffness, movement limitations, sports injuries, and problems following surgery. Inflammatory conditions, infections, gout, autoimmune diseases, and other medical conditions can also cause joint pain. This is why persistent or unexplained symptoms should not automatically be assumed to be a simple orthopedic injury.
Where Can Joint Pain Occur?
Joint pain can develop almost anywhere in the body. The location of your symptoms can provide useful clues about what may be contributing. At Reform, we commonly help patients experiencing pain involving the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees, ankles, feet, and spine. Your physical therapist will look beyond the painful joint and evaluate how the surrounding areas are working too.
Knee Joint Pain
Knee pain can make walking, stairs, squatting, kneeling, running, and getting out of a chair uncomfortable. Some people develop knee pain following an injury. Others notice symptoms gradually increasing with activity. Possible causes include arthritis, patellofemoral pain, tendon problems, meniscus injuries, ligament injuries, muscle weakness, or other conditions. Your physical therapist can evaluate knee mobility, hip and leg strength, balance, and how you move during the activities that cause symptoms.
Hip Joint Pain
Hip pain can occur around the groin, front of the hip, side of the hip, or buttock. You may notice stiffness when standing after sitting, difficulty putting on shoes, discomfort walking, or pain getting in and out of a car. Arthritis is one possible cause, but it is not the only explanation. Muscles, tendons, bursae, the lower back, and other structures can also contribute to pain around the hip.
Shoulder Joint Pain
The shoulder allows a large amount of movement. That mobility also means many muscles and other structures need to work together to keep the joint functioning well. Shoulder pain may make it difficult to reach overhead, put on clothing, lift something, sleep comfortably, or participate in sports. Rotator cuff problems, frozen shoulder, arthritis, tendon irritation, instability, and other conditions can contribute. Treatment depends on what your evaluation shows rather than simply where the pain is located.
Ankle Joint Pain
Ankle pain commonly develops after a sprain, but symptoms can also occur without a recent injury. Stiffness, arthritis, tendon problems, weakness, or repeated physical demands may contribute. You may notice discomfort walking on uneven ground, climbing stairs, running, hiking, or exercising. Physical therapy can address mobility, strength, balance, and confidence using the ankle again.
Foot Joint Pain
Your feet contain many small joints that work together every time you stand or take a step. Pain may develop around the toes, midfoot, heel, or other areas. Foot symptoms can affect walking mechanics and sometimes lead to changes elsewhere in the leg. Your therapist can evaluate foot and ankle mobility, strength, balance, footwear considerations, and the activities that increase symptoms.
Elbow Joint Pain
Elbow pain can affect lifting, gripping, carrying, sports, and repetitive work. Not all pain around the elbow comes from the joint itself. Tendons surrounding the elbow commonly contribute to symptoms. Tennis elbow is one example. Your therapist can evaluate the elbow along with wrist, shoulder, and upper-body strength to determine what may be contributing.
Wrist and Hand Joint Pain
Pain in the wrist or hand can make everyday tasks surprisingly difficult. Typing, cooking, opening containers, turning a key, gripping tools, carrying groceries, or using your phone may become uncomfortable. Arthritis, injury, repetitive activity, tendon problems, or other conditions can contribute. Treatment depends on the structures involved and the activities you want to regain.
Joint Pain From Arthritis
Arthritis is a common cause of joint pain, particularly as people get older. Osteoarthritis can lead to pain, stiffness, swelling, and decreased mobility. However, having joint pain does not automatically mean you have arthritis. Likewise, having arthritis on an X-ray does not necessarily explain every symptom you experience. Your medical history, symptoms, physical examination, and imaging when needed all help create a more complete picture.
Joint Pain After an Injury
Sometimes the cause of joint pain is obvious. You may twist your knee playing a sport, roll your ankle stepping off a curb, or hurt your shoulder lifting something. The early stages of rehabilitation often focus on protecting the injured area while gradually restoring movement. As healing progresses, treatment can shift toward rebuilding strength, balance, coordination, and tolerance for normal activity.
Joint Pain Without an Injury
Joint pain does not always begin with a dramatic event. You might simply notice your knee aching after longer walks or your shoulder becoming uncomfortable at the gym. Gradual symptoms may be influenced by changes in activity, repeated movements, weakness, stiffness, training volume, or other factors. A physical therapist can help identify patterns that may explain why your symptoms developed.
Joint Pain From Overuse
Your body adapts to physical activity when it has enough time to recover. Problems can develop when physical demands increase faster than your body can adapt. Maybe you suddenly doubled your running mileage. Perhaps spring arrived and you spent an entire weekend doing yardwork after a quiet winter. You might have started playing pickleball several days per week after being relatively inactive. The activity itself is not necessarily bad. The sudden change in demand may simply have exceeded what your body was prepared to handle.
Joint Pain and Stiffness
Pain and stiffness often occur together. You may notice stiffness first thing in the morning, after sitting at your desk, or after a long car ride. Movement may become easier once you have been up for several minutes. Physical therapy can help determine whether mobility restrictions are contributing and provide exercises designed to improve movement.
Joint Pain and Swelling
Swelling can occur after injury or with certain joint conditions. A small amount of swelling may accompany some orthopedic injuries. Significant or unexplained swelling deserves more attention. A joint that becomes very swollen, hot, red, or extremely painful should be medically evaluated, particularly when there was no clear injury.
Joint Pain and Muscle Weakness
Pain often causes people to use an area less. Over time, surrounding muscles can become weaker. That weakness may make normal activities feel even harder. For example, weak hip and thigh muscles can make stairs more difficult when your knee hurts. Rebuilding strength can improve your ability to handle the physical demands placed on a painful joint.
Joint Pain and Balance
Joint pain can affect balance, particularly when symptoms involve the hips, knees, ankles, or feet. You may begin shifting weight away from the painful side. Walking may change. You may become hesitant on stairs or uneven surfaces. Physical therapy can address leg strength, balance, coordination, and confidence with movement.
Joint Pain When Walking
Walking should not constantly make you worry about your joints. Pain while walking may be influenced by strength, joint mobility, arthritis, injury, footwear, endurance, or other factors. Your therapist can watch how you walk and evaluate the areas involved. Treatment can then address the factors that are most likely contributing.
Joint Pain Going Up or Down Stairs
Stairs place greater demands on the hips, knees, and ankles than level walking. Knee pain is particularly common while going downstairs. Your therapist may evaluate hip and leg strength, ankle mobility, balance, and the way you control your body during each step. Treatment can then gradually build the strength needed to make stairs easier.
Joint Pain When Squatting
Squatting is not just a gym exercise. You squat when sitting in a chair, getting onto the toilet, picking something up, gardening, and performing countless everyday activities. Pain during a squat may be related to mobility, strength, technique, previous injury, or the amount of load being used. Instead of avoiding squatting forever, physical therapy can help modify the movement and gradually rebuild your tolerance.
Joint Pain During Exercise
Exercise can sometimes expose limitations that are less noticeable during everyday activities. Running, jumping, lifting weights, playing sports, or attending fitness classes may require more strength and mobility than your body currently has. Pain does not automatically mean you must stop exercising. Your therapist can help determine what needs to change. Sometimes reducing weight, adjusting range of motion, changing training volume, or temporarily substituting an exercise is enough to keep you active while recovering.
Joint Pain After Exercise
A little muscle soreness after exercise is normal. Joint pain is different. If symptoms consistently increase after a particular activity or remain elevated for several days, your current exercise dose may need adjustment. That does not necessarily mean the activity is harmful. You may simply need to change the intensity, duration, frequency, or recovery time.
Joint Pain in Active Adults
Joint pain can be especially frustrating when being active is part of your identity. Maybe you run, hike, golf, ski, lift weights, play pickleball, or participate in recreational sports. Being told to simply stop doing the activity is rarely the answer active adults want. At Reform, our goal is to identify what is limiting you and help build your body back toward the demands of your activity whenever it is safe to do so.
Can Physical Therapy Help Joint Pain?
Physical therapy can help many musculoskeletal causes of joint pain. Treatment starts with determining what movements are limited, which muscles need more strength, and what activities reproduce your symptoms. Your therapist can then create a program to address those findings. Treatment may include strengthening, mobility exercises, balance training, manual therapy, movement retraining, activity modification, and a home exercise program.
Strength Training for Joint Pain
Strength is one of the body’s best tools for handling physical demands. Stronger muscles can improve your ability to walk, climb stairs, lift, exercise, and participate in recreational activities. Your therapist will choose exercises based on your current abilities. You may begin with simple movements and gradually progress toward heavier or more demanding exercises. The goal is to build capacity without unnecessarily aggravating symptoms.
Mobility Exercises for Joint Pain
Some joint pain occurs alongside limited mobility. Your ankle may not bend enough during a squat. Your shoulder may be stiff when reaching overhead. Your hip may feel restricted when walking. Mobility exercises can target these limitations. Your therapist can also determine whether the painful joint itself needs more mobility or whether the restriction is coming from somewhere nearby.
Manual Therapy
Hands-on treatment may sometimes help reduce stiffness or improve movement. Your physical therapist may use joint or soft tissue techniques depending on your condition. Manual therapy is generally most useful when paired with active rehabilitation. The goal is to use any temporary improvement in movement to help you exercise and function more effectively.
Do I Need an X-Ray or MRI for Joint Pain?
Not always. Many musculoskeletal problems can initially be evaluated based on your history and physical examination. Imaging may be appropriate when your healthcare provider suspects a fracture, significant structural injury, arthritis, or another condition requiring additional investigation. Your physical therapist can also recommend medical follow-up when your examination suggests imaging may be appropriate.
What If My MRI Shows Damage?
Imaging findings can sound frightening. Terms such as degeneration, arthritis, tears, or cartilage changes may make it seem like movement is dangerous. Imaging is important, but it is only one part of the picture. Your symptoms, strength, mobility, function, goals, and physical examination also matter. Treatment should focus on the whole person rather than an imaging report alone.
Should I Rest a Painful Joint?
A short period of modifying activity can sometimes help after an injury or flare-up. Complete rest for long periods is usually a different story. Too much inactivity can lead to weakness, stiffness, and decreased endurance. Your therapist can help determine which activities should temporarily change and which movements are safe to continue.
Should I Use Ice or Heat?
Both can be useful for short-term symptom relief depending on the person and situation. Ice is commonly used following certain acute injuries or when swelling is present. Heat may feel better when stiffness is the primary complaint. Neither one replaces rehabilitation when strength, mobility, or movement problems are contributing. Use whichever feels helpful unless your healthcare provider has given you specific instructions otherwise.
When Joint Pain May Need Medical Attention
Not every painful joint should be treated as a routine orthopedic problem. Seek medical attention for significant joint trauma, inability to put weight through a limb, obvious deformity, sudden severe swelling, a joint that is hot and red, fever with joint pain, or rapidly worsening symptoms. Unexplained joint pain affecting several joints may also require medical evaluation. These symptoms can sometimes indicate conditions that need treatment beyond physical therapy.
What Happens During a Joint Pain Physical Therapy Evaluation?
Your therapist will first ask about your symptoms. We want to know where you hurt, when it started, what makes it better or worse, and which activities have become difficult. Your physical examination may include joint mobility, muscle strength, balance, flexibility, walking, and specific movements related to your symptoms. If your knee hurts while climbing stairs, we want to see how your body handles a step. If your shoulder hurts when reaching overhead, we want to evaluate that movement. This gives us information that directly relates to your life.
What Does Joint Pain Physical Therapy Include?
Your treatment will depend on what your evaluation shows. One patient may need more mobility. Another may need considerably more strength. Someone returning to a sport may need higher-level balance, jumping, running, or lifting exercises. Treatment can progress as your body adapts. The goal is to eventually prepare you for the activities you want to perform outside of the clinic.
Joint Pain Physical Therapy at Reform
Joint pain does not automatically mean you need to stop doing the things you enjoy. At Reform Physical Therapy, we help patients understand what may be contributing to their symptoms and build a treatment plan designed around their individual goals. Whether you want to comfortably walk the dog, work without pain, return to the gym, hike, golf, play pickleball, or compete in your sport again, rehabilitation should prepare you for those demands. Our therapists provide individualized orthopedic physical therapy across Reform’s Maine clinics. We focus on treating the person, not simply the painful joint.
Schedule an Evaluation for Joint Pain
If joint pain is limiting your work, exercise, sleep, or everyday activities, you do not have to wait until it becomes severe to have it evaluated. Physical therapy can help identify movement, strength, and mobility problems that may be contributing.