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Pain, bones and joints: find the right page
The pages on this site for pain, bones and joints were spread out across the long list of tools. This page puts 15 of them on one list, sorted by where it hurts or what happened. Pick one and it opens. Each line below is that page’s own description.
If you think someone’s life is in danger, call 911 now. This page is a list. It cannot tell one pain from another, and it cannot tell you how serious something is.
Our heart attack page names pressure or pain in the chest, and pain in the arm, jaw or back, among the signs, and says to call 911 even if you are not sure, and not to drive. Our back pain page says when it cannot wait, and when it is the emergency room or 911. Our page on a hit to the head names the danger signs that mean call 911. Our broken bone page says when to call 911 and when not to move someone. Our sickle cell page names severe pain among the symptoms that are emergencies.
Type a word or two, like back, joint, headache or fall. Nothing you type here is kept or sent.
A back that hurts
Written for anyone whose back hurts, whether it started yesterday or has gone on for months.
- Back pain: when to see a doctor, what can cause it, and what helpsFor anyone whose back hurts, whether it started yesterday after lifting something or has gone on for months. Keeps nothing.
Joints that hurt, or arthritis and gout
Written for anyone whose joints hurt or who has been told they have arthritis.
- When it’s arthritisFor anyone whose joints hurt or who has been told they have arthritis, and the people beside them. Keeps nothing.
Pain that has lasted for months
Written for people living with pain that has lasted for months, wherever it is, and the people beside them.
- When pain doesn’t go awayFor people living with pain that has lasted for months, and the people beside them. Keeps nothing.
Headaches and migraine, or a hit to the head
The first is for headaches that keep coming back. The second is for a blow, a fall, a crash or a fight, now or years ago.
- Migraine and headachesFor anyone living with migraine or headaches that keep coming back, and the people beside them. Keeps nothing.
- After a hit to the headYou hit your head, or you haven’t felt right since a blow, a fall, a crash or a fight; it is your child; or it happened years ago and nobody ever looked at it. Keeps nothing.
A bone that might be broken, a sprain, or a joint out of place
Written for someone hurt in front of you right now, a swollen ankle or wrist you are wondering about, or living with a cast.
- When a bone might be brokenSomeone hurt in front of you right now, a swollen ankle or wrist you are wondering about, or living with a cast. Keeps nothing.
Pain in the chest, or in the arm, jaw or back
Our heart attack page names these as signs, and says to call 911 even if you are not sure.
- When it might be a heart attackPressure or pain in the chest, pain in the arm, jaw or back, short of breath or a cold sweat; you are not sure it is your heart; someone has collapsed and is not responding; you are home after a heart attack; or you are beside someone who is. Keeps nothing.
Pain that comes with something else: sickle cell, shingles, a fall, or a job
These four are about something else. The sickle cell page has what to do in a pain crisis; the shingles page has the nerve pain that can stay after the rash; the page on getting older has what to do after a fall; the work page is for people who were hurt on the job.
- When it’s sickle cellFor people who have sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait, parents whose baby’s newborn screening came back with it, and the people beside them. Keeps nothing.
- Shingles: the signs, the first three days, the pain that can stay, who can catch what, the vaccine, and when to callFor anyone with a painful rash on one side of the body or face that may be shingles, or looking after someone who has it. Keeps nothing.
- Help as you get olderGetting older, or looking out for someone who is. Keeps nothing.
- When something is wrong at workFor people who were not paid right, whose workplace is not safe, who were hurt on the job, who are harassed or treated differently, who were punished or fired after speaking up, or who are afraid to say anything, and the people beside them. Keeps nothing.
Before you call or go in
These four are for anyone’s appointment, call or medicines. They were not made for pain.
- Symptom diary: write it down, show your doctorWrite down what you notice when it happens, with your own number from 0 to 10. What you type is kept only in this browser.
- Get ready for your appointmentTen minutes before you go: what has been happening, your medicines, your questions and what helps you, on one page to hand to your doctor, therapist or psychiatrist, with room to write down the plan. What you type is kept only in this browser.
- Call script: know what you will say before you dialA phone call you keep putting off? Write who you are calling, the sentence that says what you want, what to have ready and what to ask. What you type is kept only in this browser.
- My medicines: a list and a daily check“Did I already take it?” Write down what you take and when, tick each medicine as you take it, and the page keeps the time. What you type is kept only in this browser.
No page on this list matches those words. Try one word, press Show all, or search the whole site.
Good to know
What these pages are
- All 15 were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast. No doctor, nurse or pharmacist has reviewed them.
- The health guides pass on what named public sources say, such as the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Most guides name the sources they were built from.
- Every line on this list is copied from the page it points to when this list is built. This list adds no health facts of its own.
- The order of the list is not an order of how serious a thing is. Being lower on the list does not make anything less urgent.
- They are for the United States: the phone numbers and the offices are U.S. ones.
What this page can’t do
- It is not medical advice. It cannot tell one kind of pain from another, or tell you whether to wait or to go in.
- It does not have every subject. There is no page here yet for neck pain, osteoporosis or fibromyalgia on their own.
- Most of these pages were written about adults. Three also have a part on children: migraine and headaches, a hit to the head, and a broken bone.
- It does not replace a doctor, nurse line, pharmacist or clinic. If something feels wrong to you, call them.
Pages that go with this
- First aid: what do you see?: the cards for when someone is hurt in front of you.
- An upset stomach, heartburn or constipation: find the right page: the list that has belly pain.
- Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page: the list that has kidney stones and bladder infections.
- All the free tools, and search.
- The phone list: the helplines the guides lead with, on one page.
- Pass it on: any of these pages as a code to show or a slip to print.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The names and lines of the 15 pages are read from the pages’ own descriptions when this page is built. The page was checked by programs, not yet used by people. It runs no analytics or tracking (privacy). Also in Spanish: Dolor, huesos y articulaciones. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].