The pain of arthritis in the ankle or knee probably delivers more physical pain than you've ever experienced before. Since we depend so much on our knees for support and use them much more than other parts of our body we're much more likely to notice the arthritis pain.You may first notice the pain in the morning where the knee is stiff and sore from relaxing during the night. As you start moving around in the morning, buying on shoes doing a little "get going therapy" the stiffness and soreness usually subsides.When you are diagnosed with knee arthritis get as much information available on the possible causes. For many it's the physical wear and tear, we don't rebound as fast as we use to. Your doctor may tell you, you're loosing some cushion in the knee. This could be the result from many different things you do in your lifestyle or day to day work. Treatments do exist to help with the pain which will follow for months to come.

Health Fact:By 2030, it's estimated that 67 million Americans over the age of 17 will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis. [Data Source: 2003 NHIS]

Prescriptions can ease the pain in the knee, but the arthritis will live on. If treating the arthritis pain with a prescription doesn't work, another option would be knee surgery. The damaged knee areas could be repaired or the whole knee replaced if needed.For some, knee surgery isn't an option, the thought of it scares them. For those, they live with the pain until it becomes unbearable. They no longer put ice on the knee to help reduce swelling, or put heat on to reduce some of the pain. Don't live in pain. Talk to your doctor about possible remedies, alternative medicines or any type of therapy, options or new medical procedures coming on the health horizon.