Sports related joint pain is one of the most common forms of joint pain aside from old age that you can run across. Injury related joint pain is caused by wear and tear on the joints and bones as well as hairline cracks, tiny fractures, and general banging up that many athletes suffer over the course of their lives. These things are not always bad enough to make someone go to the hospital, but they can accumulate over time and cause aches and pains even when there is nothing obviously causing it. The worst sports offenders include boxing, basketball, football and baseball, though even sports like tennis and swimming can cause joint pain issues over time.
Even if you don't play sports, you may find that you can get joint pain from old injuries. For example, people who have been hurt in car accidents or falls may find that long after the outward injury heals, they still suffer from old aches and joint pain, especially during temperature changes or prolonged periods of exercise. Neck pain and shoulder pain are common years after car crashes, while pain in the hips or legs can accompany falls. It can take years for the pain to vanish completely and for some people, certain triggers make the pain come back decades later.
If you have to deal with joint pain stemming from old injuries, you know that it can be a nusaince to find joint pain relief. After all, it's rarely a completely debilitating ache and most people simply learn to live with it. However, for other people, it can be bad enough to lessen their quality of life and annoying enough to look for a way to deal with it. For these people, there are a range of options.
The most common thing to do is take painkillers when it gets bad; Tylonol or Advil are both viable, over the counter painkillers that work well for this kind of pain and is easy to keep on hand. Other ways of handling the pain include heat packs; which are especially useful if your trigger is cold or damp weather; pain blocking through mental exercises, which takes a great deal fo practice and isn't always very effective; or massages which can help relieve inflammation.
Joint pain from old injuries is simply adding insult to your pain, but it is very common. Whether the pain stems from living life as a professional athlete or from an accident that never quite healed right, finding a way to deal with the joint pain is mostly a matter of finding things that suit your lifestyle and are effective for you.
