Your shoulder hurts when you reach into a cabinet. Your hip hurts when you get out of the car. Your knee suddenly bothers you on the stairs.
And somewhere along the way, you may hear those familiar words:
“Well, you're getting older.”
Yes, you are. We all are.
But getting older is not a diagnosis.
Aging can bring normal changes to our muscles, tendons, joints, and other tissues. But a new or persistent pain may still have an identifiable cause—and finding out what is hurting matters more than simply knowing the age of the person it belongs to.
Shoulder pain may involve a rotator cuff tendon or bursa. Hip pain may come from a tendon or other surrounding soft tissue. Knee pain may involve a tendon, ligament, inflammation, or another structure.
Sometimes the problem develops gradually. Sometimes there was a small injury you barely noticed at the time. And sometimes a structure simply isn't moving or functioning the way it should.
The important question isn't just:
“How old are you?”
“Where does it hurt, when does it hurt, and what is causing it?”
Musculoskeletal ultrasound can evaluate many accessible muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, bursae, and other soft tissues.
Because MSK ultrasound provides real-time imaging, we can also evaluate certain structures during movement. If your shoulder hurts when you lift your arm or your knee hurts when you bend it, the movement itself may become part of the examination.
MSK ultrasound is safe, noninvasive, and uses no radiation.
And when X-ray, MRI, or another type of imaging would provide information that ultrasound cannot, recognizing that is equally important.
At the Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound, every examination begins with the patient—not the machine and certainly not the patient's age.
We start by listening. Where does it hurt? When did it begin? Which movements make it worse? What activities have become more difficult? What changed?
At the heart of the Jablon Protocol is something technology can't replace—the human connection. Michael Jablon listens, examines, and observes how your body moves and where it hurts before ever picking up the probe.
The ultrasound then becomes an extension of that examination, allowing him to see in real time what his clinical evaluation has already begun to uncover.
Growing older doesn't mean nothing should ever hurt. But it also doesn't mean every pain should automatically be dismissed as part of aging.
Persistent pain, weakness, swelling, limited movement, or a change in what you're able to do deserves attention.
Sometimes there is an explanation.
And finding it can be the first step toward knowing what to do next.
If you've been told your pain is simply part of getting older, but you're still wondering what's causing it, a focused MSK ultrasound evaluation may help provide answers.
Call the Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound at 949.229.7377 to schedule an evaluation.
