Joints keep the record of how you live.

A joint problem is often an old play plus a new week

Ankles, knees, shoulders, and hips remember sports seasons and car wrecks. They also remember a decade of warehouse shifts. This journal will not name a cartilage percentage we did not measure.

Missouri Injury Clinic publishes sports-injury care and auto-injury care. If the joint pain started with a play or a crash, that is the lane. If it is a long medical arthritis story, say so on the call. They may treat you or they may send you onward.

Hot, red, suddenly swollen joints, or a joint that cannot bear weight after a fall, need urgent medical care.

Leave the journal on the table and call if

• A sports play or a wreck started the joint pain.
• You keep re-injuring the same joint.
• The joint is changing how you walk or work.
• You want an injury clinic, not a six-month specialist wait, as the first look.