The question often comes up, “I have arthritis. I have joint pain. Which doctor do I see first? Who do I go see?” As we start this journey of arthritis or joint pain we start out with joint pain, our goal is to finish without joint pain. The first person along that path that you should see is almost always your primary care physician. Your primary care physician understands your medical history, understands the risk factors you may have as far as particular types of anti-inflammatories that you may or may not require, and also can perform your initial evaluation regarding if you have arthritis, whether you have rheumatoid or osteoarthritis, and from there what further conservative treatment options you may benefit from. The primary care physician can start with the anti-inflammatories, can start with therapy, and do some initial testing to determine if whether you may have osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. And from there, direct you on to the next appropriate professional. If the primary care physician determines or suspects that you may have rheumatoid arthritis, he or she may often refer you to a rheumatologist. As many times, rheumatoid arthritis can be treated non-surgically or with particular more advance medication prescribed by a rheumatologist. If your primary care physician feels that you have osteoarthritis or wear-and-tear arthritis, he or she will often start out again with the anti-inflammatories, physical therapy, braces or injections. Following that, if you and your primary care physician feel that your pain is not responding and the pain is interfering with your activities of daily living, your sleep, your rest, your functional ability, at that point the primary care physician or patient may refer themselves on to an orthopedic surgeon for additional options.
