If your goal is to get relief from your joint pain, here are three strategies to help you achieve it.

1) Educate Yourself

But do it wisely. Guests at one surgeon's educational seminar often chuckle when he says early on that his goal is to keep them away from guys like him - meaning surgeons. There are several avenues you should explore before deciding on surgery. Surgery for joint pain relief is the final step and of course we want you to take that step with us, but not until it's absolutely necessary. Avail yourself of as many educational resources as possible. You can start with the Services & Procedures section of our website. Our Surgeons offer extensive patient education resources on the websites of their private practices too.

2) Eat to Lose

Particularly important for those of you struggling with hip or knee pain. Just 10 extra pounds of weight you carry puts 50 extra pounds of pressure on your joints! And of course the reverse is true - taking off just 10 pounds eases that extra stress on your joints.

3) Exercise Three Ways

Your exercise program should address three areas - flexibility, strengthening and cardiovascular improvement. You don't need to be able to do back bends, lift an ox or run the Boston Marathon! Gentle movements like those found in Tai Chi or Yoga; strengthening your muscles through isometric or isotonic exercises; and doing some steady aerobic exercise like walking, biking or swimming for 30 to 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week will go a long way toward easing your joint pain.

Give these strategies a try, and let us know how they work for you!

Outpatient joint replacement is growing rapidly across the country. Slightly more than a year ago, Seaside Surgery Center partnered with SurgCenter Development® to bring outpatient joint replacements to Southwest Florida. And we're not the only ones; since the SurgCenter® program's inception in 2013, 76 facilities have opened in 19 states. These facilities have provided joint replacements to more than 16,000 patients since then. That includes 6,900 patients in 2016, with over 90% of them going home the same day as surgery.

We took a close look at the growth rate of our sister facilities and are pleased to report that Seaside ranked 14th in total case volume when comparing the first 5 quarters of each center's business history. We were 29th in total knee replacements, 7th in total hip replacements and 5th in total shoulder replacements! We have averaged a 28% growth rate over the past 5 quarters and only one facility reporting 5 or fewer quarters topped us in total case volume!!