If any one of the following statements are familiar to you in your efforts to seek relief from chronic joint pain, you are a possible candidate for joint preservation surgery.

• You are unable to do the physical things you enjoy.

• You have had prior arthroscopy, but your joint remains in pain.

• You have participated in physical therapy, but to no avail.

• Your pain medication requirements seem to be increasing.

• Your pain is constant and is awakening you at night.

• Because you have complained of pain for so long, friends and family have begun to question if you really are in pain.

• You have been told you are too young for a joint replacement, or you have avascular necrosis (osteonecrosis) in the hip, the shoulder, or the knee.

• • “Come back to see me when you can no longer tolerate the pain.”

• • “I understand you are in pain, but your x-rays and MRI are normal.”

• • “You have mild arthritis, but the arthritis is not bad enough for your joint to be replaced.”

• • “I can refer you to a pain management doctor for your chronic joint pain.”