Porter Regional Hospital Educates Patients, Public At ‘Top 10 Things You Can Do For Hip & Knee Pain Seminar

On Wednesday, Porter Regional Hospital’s Center for Orthopedic Medicine hosted their monthly ‘Top 10 Things You Can Do For Hip And Knee Pain’ seminar. The event is free to the public and provides attendees with information on how they can get relief from the aches, pains and ‘twangs of arthritis.

“Anybody in the community at any age who sees the flyer or the advertisement is welcome to come,” said Lisa Stemler, Nursing Director of Orthopedic Medicine at Porter Regional Hospital. “It’s informational and it’s a type of community service that we do here. Of course, we have a great orthopedic program that’s here for patients who might choose to use a physician that come here.”

“We’ve been doing these kinds of events for around two years,” Stemler said. “We’ve always done some type of community seminars and outreach. We started a new rollout and refined our program over the last two years though and this was part of that. It was a good crowd today and I’m really excited. The more information we can get out to people the better.”

Conducting the afternoon seminar was Joel Phillips, a Registered Nurse on the Orthopedic Floor at Porter Regional Hospital. Phillips has been at Porter Regional Hospital for four years and discussed the importance of a proper diagnosis and the range of treatment options available.

“We essentially are covering the types of arthritis and all the treatments they can use all the way up to surgery,” Phillips said. “We go over arthritis, the anatomy of your joints, primarily in the knees and hip since that is what we work with, and then treatment options.”

“Arthritis is gonna cause pain, swelling and loss of motion,” said Phillips. “It affects millions of Americans every year and it is the most common disability in the U.S. We’ll focus on the main two types: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common type. That’s the one we primarily see when we’re having knee and hip replacements and any joint really.”

Knee and hip pain associated with arthritis takes place in the cartilage and can be caused by injury, overuse and wear and tear on the body. It starts in a small area and develops until there is eventually bone on bone contact.

“When you get to that point that’s when you have to have some type of intervention,” Phillips said. “That’s when the pain is so severe you have problems sleeping and you can’t perform everyday activities and you have swollen, stiff joints.”

The seminar touched on a broad range of topics centered around how to best deal with hip and knee pain associated with arthritis. Exercise programs, nutrition, and how heat/cold may help were covered as well as how over-the-counter, prescription and injection medications can work to alleviate pain and discomfort.

Porter Regional Hospital offers free arthritis events at least every month at one of their locations in Valparaiso and Portage. To find out about upcoming events, locations or to register, go to: www.porterJOINTCARE.com, or call 1-800-541-1861.