# Your treatment choice starts with the cause of soreness

*Treatment Choices | Joint Pain Relief Glendale*

> Joint pain relief Glendale choices include an exam, home care, medicine, regenerative treatments, and surgery alternatives.

Trips between Arrowhead and Westgate can mean a long time sitting. A stiff hip or knee may feel worse before you arrive. Before choosing a clinic, note which joint hurts and when. Those facts keep the visit focused.

Soreness after use may come from joint wear or a tired tendon. An aching hip can even feel like knee pain. An exam can sort those causes better than a product label. You can choose treatment after someone checks the sore area.

## Home care often comes before a procedure

Ease the recent activity, but don't stop moving completely. Gentle motion, sleep, and gradual strength work may help. Heat or cold won't fix the cause, but either may ease soreness. Your pharmacist can discuss medicine used on skin or taken by mouth.

Keep track of the daily activity you miss. It could be a walk, stairs, or a full work shift. If care isn't improving that task, say so. The next choice must fit your health and the likely cause.

## QC Kinetix offers non-surgical joint procedures

QC Kinetix may discuss regenerative treatments, including platelet-rich plasma prepared from your blood. Staff draw blood, separate the platelets, then place the prepared portion into the sore joint. Medical providers are the clinicians who examine you and review your history first. They may also discuss concentrated platelet-rich plasma and knee or hip surgery alternatives.

The clinic may call these biologic therapies or orthobiologics, meaning joint procedures made from blood or tissue material. They aren't pills. Ask where the material comes from, how it's prepared, and where it goes. Clear answers matter before you agree to a procedure.

## An X-ray doesn't make the decision by itself

Your X-ray won't settle the cause, though it may show joint wear. Other changes on the image may not cause your symptoms. The exam must match the exact side and sore spot. Your daily limits matter alongside the image.

Surgery can be right when damage and daily trouble line up. It isn't the next step for every stiff knee or hip. Non-surgical care may still be worth discussing first. A clinician can explain what waiting would mean for you.

## No treatment works the same for everyone

No visit can predict exactly how your joint will respond. Ask what change is reasonable and when you might notice it. Find out what comes next if soreness stays the same. The answer needs to include the limits.

A sound choice fits your medicines, health, and daily needs. Keep your regular doctor involved as well. A hot joint or sudden illness needs prompt medical care. Treatment that can be scheduled may wait until urgent causes are checked.

## Sources

1. OARSI's 2019 guideline is the only major osteoarthritis guideline that grades treatments separately for people with disease in MULTIPLE joints. Its Core Treatments for polyarticular OA are arthritis education and structured land-based exercise. Critically, intra-articular corticosteroid and intra-articular hyaluronic acid were Level 1B/2 options for knee OA only and were NOT recommended for hip or polyarticular OA; oral NSAIDs were not recommended at all for people with cardiovascular comorbidity or frailty; and paracetamol/acetaminophen was conditionally not recommended.
   Bannuru RR, Osani MC, Vaysbrot EE, et al. — [OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31278997/). *Osteoarthritis and Cartilage*, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011.
2. A Cochrane overview of 21 systematic reviews (381 studies, 37,143 participants) covering rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, low back pain, neck disorder and other chronic pain conditions concluded that physical activity and exercise are interventions with few adverse events that may improve pain severity and physical function - but that the quality of the evidence is low, effects on pain were inconsistent across reviews, and physical function improved significantly in 14 reviews with only small-to-moderate effect sizes. The commonest reported adverse event was increased muscle soreness that settled within weeks.
   Geneen LJ, Moore RA, Clarke C, Martin D, Colvin LA, Smith BH — [Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: an overview of Cochrane Reviews.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28436583/). *Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews*, 2017. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011279.pub3.
3. A systematic review of 33 studies reporting CT or MRI findings in 3,110 people with NO symptoms found that degenerative changes are close to universal with age. Disc degeneration was present in 37% of 20-year-olds and 96% of 80-year-olds; disc bulge in 30% at 20 and 84% at 80; disc protrusion in 29% at 20 and 43% at 80. The authors concluded that many imaging-based degenerative features are likely part of normal ageing and unassociated with pain.
   Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, et al. — [Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25430861/). *American Journal of Neuroradiology*, 2015. DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.A4173.
4. A meta-analysis of 63 studies (5,397 knees in 4,751 adults) with NO knee symptoms and no injury history found cartilage defects in 24%, meniscal tears in 10%, bone marrow lesions in 18% and osteophytes in 25%. The figures split sharply by age: cartilage defects in 11% of adults under 40 versus 43% of those 40 and over; meniscal tears in 4% under 40 versus 19% at 40 and over.
   Culvenor AG, Oiestad BE, Hart HF, Stefanik JJ, Guermazi A, Crossley KM — [Prevalence of knee osteoarthritis features on magnetic resonance imaging in asymptomatic uninjured adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29886437/). *British Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2019. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099257.
5. A network meta-analysis of 192 randomised trials in 102,829 patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis found that five oral preparations - diclofenac 150 mg/day, etoricoxib 60 and 90 mg/day, and rofecoxib 25 and 50 mg/day - had a 99% or greater probability of exceeding the minimal clinically important reduction in pain. Topical diclofenac (70-81 and 140-160 mg/day) had a 92.3% or greater probability. Every opioid studied had a 53% or LOWER probability of exceeding that threshold.
   da Costa BR, Pereira TV, Saadat P, et al. — [Effectiveness and safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioid treatment for knee and hip osteoarthritis: network meta-analysis.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34642179/). *BMJ*, 2021. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.n2321.
6. An updated individual patient data meta-analysis pooled 39 trials and 20,827 patients with non-specific musculoskeletal pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache or shoulder pain, restricted to trials with unambiguously adequate allocation concealment. Acupuncture was superior both to sham and to no-acupuncture control for every condition (all p<0.001), with differences of about 0.5 standard deviations versus no acupuncture and about 0.2 standard deviations versus sham. Effects persisted with only about a 15% decrease at one year.
   Vickers AJ, Vertosick EA, Lewith G, et al. — [Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29198932/). *The Journal of Pain*, 2018. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2017.11.005.
7. A meta-analysis of 20 dietary supplements across 69 randomised trials in hand, hip or knee osteoarthritis found that seven (collagen hydrolysate, passion fruit peel extract, Curcuma longa extract, Boswellia serrata extract, curcumin, pycnogenol and L-carnitine) showed large short-term effects on pain, and six more (undenatured type II collagen, avocado soybean unsaponifiables, methylsulfonylmethane, diacerein, glucosamine, chondroitin) showed statistically significant but clinically unclear effects. At MEDIUM term only green-lipped mussel extract and undenatured type II collagen retained clinically important effects, and NO supplement had a clinically important effect on pain at long term.
   Liu X, Machado GC, Eyles JP, Ravi V, Hunter DJ — [Dietary supplements for treating osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29018060/). *British Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2018. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-097333.
8. Within the VITAL trial - 25,871 US adults randomised in a 2-by-2 factorial design to vitamin D and/or marine omega-3 fatty acids - a subgroup of 1,398 participants with pre-existing chronic knee pain (mean age 67.7, 66% women, mean WOMAC pain 37 of 100) was followed for a mean of 5.3 years. WOMAC pain did not differ between active vitamin D and its placebo, or between active omega-3 and its placebo, at any time point, and the time-by-treatment interactions were not significant. Function and stiffness gave the same answer.
   MacFarlane LA, Cook NR, Kim E, et al. — [The Effects of Vitamin D and Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on Chronic Knee Pain in Older US Adults: Results From a Randomized Trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32583982/). *Arthritis & Rheumatology*, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/art.41416.
9. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 136 patients with hand osteoarthritis or psoriatic arthritis who still had moderate pain on existing therapy received synthetic cannabidiol 20-30 mg daily or placebo for 12 weeks. The between-group difference in pain intensity at 12 weeks was 0.23 mm on a 0-100 mm scale (95% CI -9.41 to 9.90; p=0.96). There were no significant effects on sleep quality, depression, anxiety or pain catastrophizing either.
   Vela J, Dreyer L, Petersen KK, Arendt-Nielsen L, Duch KS, Kristensen S — [Cannabidiol treatment in hand osteoarthritis and psoriatic arthritis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34510141/). *Pain*, 2022. DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002466.
10. A meta-analysis of 198 randomised osteoarthritis trials (16,364 patients in placebo groups, 1,167 in untreated control groups) found the placebo arm itself relieved pain with an effect size of 0.51 (95% CI 0.46-0.55), against 0.03 (95% CI -0.13 to 0.18) in untreated controls. Placebo also improved function and stiffness. The placebo effect was larger when the active treatment effect was larger, when baseline pain was higher, and - relevant to any injected treatment - when the placebo was delivered by injection rather than by mouth.
   Zhang W, Robertson J, Jones AC, Dieppe PA, Doherty M — [The placebo effect and its determinants in osteoarthritis: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18541604/). *Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases*, 2008. DOI: 10.1136/ard.2008.092015.
11. FDA states verbatim that of the products marketed as regenerative medicine - stem cell products, stromal vascular fraction from adipose tissue, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly, amniotic fluid and exosome products - 'None of these products have been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.' The only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming (hematopoietic progenitor) cells from umbilical cord blood, approved only for disorders of blood production, and there are currently no FDA-approved exosome products.
   U.S. Food and Drug Administration — [Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes](https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/consumers-biologics/consumer-alert-regenerative-medicine-products-including-stem-cells-and-exosomes). *FDA (Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research)*, 2024.
12. In the PEAK non-inferiority randomised trial, 394 Australian adults with chronic knee pain were randomised to five physiotherapy consultations over 3 months delivered either in person or by video conference. Both groups improved (mean pain change 2.98 in person, 3.14 by video), and telerehabilitation was non-inferior for pain (mean difference 0.16, 95% CI -0.26 to 0.57) and function (1.65, -0.23 to 3.53). Adverse events were similar (21% vs 19%) and none were serious.
   Hinman RS, Campbell PK, Lawford BJ, et al. — [Telerehabilitation consultations with a physiotherapist for chronic knee pain versus in-person consultations in Australia: the PEAK non-inferiority randomised controlled trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38461844/). *The Lancet*, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02630-2.

## A visit can tell you which choices fit the sore joint

Your medicine list, past X-ray results, and one painful daily task will help. A clinician can examine the joint and explain regenerative treatments, including blood-based platelet procedures. The clinician will also say when your regular doctor or urgent care belongs first.

North Glendale residents often have a shorter trip to Peoria near Thunderbird Road. Westgate and southern neighborhoods may prefer the Banner Estrella route down 91st Avenue. Pick the drive that works with your day.

Book a free consultation: <https://joint-pain.qckaz.com/?src=painreliefglendale.com>

---

Clear answers for a sore joint.

Glendale help for aching joints, simple care, urgent symptoms, and local treatment.

Plain answers for Glendale residents with one aching joint.

Pain Relief Glendale is operated by the same owners who run QC Kinetix's Phoenix-area clinics, so appointments made from this publication can benefit their clinic business.

© 2026 Glendale Relief Signal. This publication provides general education; decisions about your symptoms belong with a clinician who can examine you.