MultiCare Health System

After many years of wear and tear, knee pain often becomes more common as we get older. Most knee pain in people over 50, unless caused by a sudden injury, is due to osteoarthritis — a gradual thinning of cartilage within the knee joint. Cartilage allows the bones to smoothly glide across each other. As the cartilage layer thins or becomes pock-mocked, the joint surface can become inflamed from the friction, leading to stiffness and pain.

But when time, rest, physical therapy or anti-inflammatory medicines don’t help relieve chronic pain, injectable therapy might be the next step.

Knee arthritis injections: options for pain relief Is knee pain slowing you down? Learn how cortisone, hyaluronic acid and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections can help ease pain and how long relief lasts.

Before turning 60 last summer, Karen Marez noticed abdominal bloating out of nowhere.

“I just thought maybe this was part of life as a postmenopausal woman, and kept explaining away my symptoms,” she recalls.

Then Marez started cramping.

“I thought that was really weird,” she says. “It couldn’t be menstrual cramps; I hadn’t had a period since 2012.”

The cramps subsided for a while, then returned with another symptom: spotting.

“That was the big ‘aha moment,’” she says. “Something was wrong.”

Early ovarian cancer diagnosis enables minimally invasive surgery Symptoms that mimicked menopause felt easy to dismiss, but Karen Marez listened to her instincts, got answers fast and began treatment for ovarian cancer.

While taking a break from schoolwork is essential, it’s equally important to ensure that kids’ minds remain active and engaged during the summer months. This not only helps prevent the “summer slide” — the learning loss that can happen when kids are out of school — but also smooths the transition back to classes.

“When it comes to keeping kids’ brains stimulated in summer, it’s important to incorporate physical activity, problem-solving and creativity,” says Deandra Cloy, LICSW, an integrated mental health therapist with the MultiCare Behavioral Health Network.

5 tips for keeping kids' brains stimulated this summer Balance fun and learning with engaging summer activities that limit screens and boost creativity.