The people we see from Stone Mountain are rarely looking to become athletes again. They want to finish a loop at Wade Walker Park without paying for it the next morning, get through a shift without their hands stiffening, or walk Main Street and the historic district without planning around benches. Those goals are specific, and they make a useful starting point for treatment. Our physicians ask what you have stopped doing, not just where it hurts.
Arthritis is a broad label covering very different conditions, and the first job is a proper evaluation. Dr. Elbridge Bills, Dr. Jeff Semel and Dr. Leslye Pace look at which joints are involved, how symptoms behave through the day, your history and any relevant testing. Body weight plays a real mechanical role in knee and hip arthritis, so for some patients medical weight loss is part of the conversation rather than a separate topic. Anti-aging care and hormone evaluation may also come up when they are relevant. Your physician will determine what belongs in your plan, and some patients are referred on to specialty or surgical care.
Getting to us from Stone Mountain means U.S. 78 west to I-285, around the Perimeter to the Roswell Road exit, and south on Roswell Road NE toward Chastain Park. For anyone with painful joints, a long stretch in the car is its own problem, so we encourage patients from Smoke Rise, Hidden Hills and Redan to pick appointment times that avoid the heaviest Perimeter traffic. We are open Monday through Thursday until six and Friday until four. Treatment aims to reduce pain and improve function over time; arthritis is a chronic condition, and care is about management rather than cure.
About Arthritis Treatment
Arthritis is not one condition. The word covers more than a hundred disorders that affect joints and the tissue around them, and the two broad families behave very differently. Osteoarthritis, by far the most common form, is a gradual breakdown of cartilage and the bone beneath it, usually in knees, hips, hands, and the lower back, driven by mechanical load, prior injury, age, genetics, and low-grade inflammation. Inflammatory arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, is an immune-driven process that can damage joints quickly and requires specialty medication. Telling those apart is the first job of any honest evaluation, because the right plan for one is the wrong plan for the other.
Atlanta Medical Institute approaches arthritis from the metabolic and medical side rather than the surgical one. Our physicians have spent years treating obesity, inflammation, and hormone decline, and those three factors sit underneath a great deal of joint pain. Excess body weight increases the load on weight-bearing joints with every step and also raises circulating inflammatory signals that affect joints far from the hips and knees. Muscle loss reduces the support a joint receives. Falling estrogen or testosterone can change how pain is perceived and how connective tissue holds up. None of those are the whole story of arthritis, but all of them are modifiable, and most joint pain plans never address them at all.
What this service is, then, is physician-directed medical management of the factors you can actually change, coordinated with whatever orthopedic, rheumatologic, or physical therapy care you already have or may need. We do not perform joint replacement, and we do not tell patients that a medical plan will rebuild a joint that is already bone on bone. What we can do is evaluate you thoroughly, be direct about what stage you are at, and work on the pieces that tend to be left on the table.
What Arthritis Care Here Involves
Care begins with an evaluation rather than a treatment. Your physician takes a detailed history of which joints hurt, how the pain behaves through the day, what makes it worse, what you have already tried, and what you are currently taking for it. Morning stiffness that eases within half an hour points in a different direction than stiffness that lasts for hours. Pain in one knee after an old sports injury is a different problem than symmetric swelling in both hands.
From there, the plan is built around the drivers we can influence. For most patients with osteoarthritis and excess weight, sustained weight reduction is the single highest-yield intervention available outside of surgery, and it is where our practice has the most experience. Where hormone status appears to be contributing, particularly in women moving through perimenopause and menopause, that gets evaluated on its own terms rather than assumed. Nutrition, activity that a painful joint can tolerate, and a review of long-term anti-inflammatory use round out the picture.
If your evaluation suggests inflammatory arthritis, or if a joint looks advanced enough that surgical consultation is the honest next step, we will tell you and help you get to the right specialist. That is a normal outcome of a thorough visit, not a failure of one.
- A full history of symptoms, prior injuries, imaging, and current medications
- Laboratory work when it is clinically indicated, including inflammatory markers when an immune-driven arthritis is a possibility
- Assessment of body weight, body composition, and metabolic health as they relate to joint load
- Hormone evaluation where symptoms and history suggest it may be relevant
- A medically supervised weight management plan when excess weight is contributing
- Nutrition and activity guidance built around what your joints currently tolerate
- Coordination with orthopedics, rheumatology, or physical therapy when specialty care is appropriate
Who Is a Candidate
This approach fits best for adults with early to moderate osteoarthritis who are carrying extra weight, who want a non-surgical path, and who are willing to work on the underlying drivers over months rather than weeks. It also fits patients who have already seen an orthopedist, been told they are not yet a surgical candidate, and sent home without much of a plan. That gap is a common reason people come to us.
It is a reasonable fit alongside existing care as well. Patients who already see a rheumatologist for rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis often still carry excess weight, metabolic disease, or deconditioning, and addressing those can support the care their specialist is providing. We work with your rheumatologist rather than around them, and we do not adjust or substitute for disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or biologics.
Some situations need a different setting first. A hot, red, acutely swollen joint, a joint that will not bear weight after an injury, fever with joint pain, or rapidly progressive symptoms should be evaluated urgently rather than through an elective consultation. Advanced end-stage joint disease is a surgical conversation, and we will say so plainly. Eligibility for any medication we might prescribe, including weight management medications or hormone therapy, is determined by medical evaluation, not by a questionnaire.
What to Expect Over Time
Joint pain that developed over years does not resolve in a month. Most patients who are working on weight and metabolic health begin to notice changes in how their knees and hips feel somewhere in the first several months, roughly in step with meaningful weight reduction rather than in step with starting a program. The research here is consistent: in patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis who are overweight, losing around five percent of body weight is associated with measurable improvement in pain and function, and benefits generally continue to increase with greater loss. Combining weight reduction with appropriate activity works better than either one alone.
There is now trial evidence specific to this overlap. In a randomized study of adults with obesity and knee osteoarthritis, those treated with semaglutide 2.4 mg alongside lifestyle intervention had substantially greater weight loss and a greater reduction in knee pain scores over 68 weeks than those on placebo. That is encouraging, and it is also worth stating clearly that GLP-1 medications are approved for weight management and diabetes, not as arthritis treatments. Any joint benefit follows from the weight and metabolic change, and whether one of these medications is appropriate for you is a medical decision your physician makes after evaluating you.
Follow-up is part of the plan, not an upsell. You should expect scheduled visits to review symptoms, function, weight and body composition trends, medication tolerance, and labs where relevant, with the plan adjusted based on what is actually happening rather than on what was expected at the start. Some patients improve enough to postpone a surgical conversation for a long time. Some improve meaningfully but still eventually need a joint replaced. We would rather set that expectation at the beginning than at the end.
Safety, Monitoring, and Honest Limits
Everything prescribed here is prescribed by a physician and monitored. Weight management medications carry real contraindications and side effects, including gastrointestinal effects and specific warnings that make them inappropriate for some patients. Hormone therapy requires screening, baseline labs, and ongoing follow-up. Long-term use of over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, which many arthritis patients have been taking daily for years, carries its own risks to the stomach, kidneys, and cardiovascular system, and reviewing that quietly accumulated exposure is often one of the more useful things a visit accomplishes.
We also want to be straightforward about regenerative therapies, because the marketing around them has gotten well ahead of the evidence. As of 2026, the FDA has not approved any stem cell or exosome product for the treatment of osteoarthritis or other orthopedic conditions, and the agency has issued consumer warnings about unapproved cell and tissue products sold for joint pain. Platelet-rich plasma and similar approaches remain investigational for these uses, with results that vary considerably between studies and between patients. If regenerative options come up in your consultation, you will hear that context from your physician rather than a promise of cartilage regrowth.
No part of this program is a cure for arthritis, and no one here will tell you a specific amount of pain relief or weight loss is guaranteed. Results differ from person to person based on the stage of joint disease, the type of arthritis, other medical conditions, and how the plan fits into your life. What we commit to is a careful evaluation, a plan built on interventions with real evidence behind them, clear reasoning about what each one can and cannot do, and follow-up that adjusts when something is not working.
Getting Here from Stone Mountain
Most patients from Stone Mountain take U.S. 78, the Stone Mountain Freeway, west to I-285, follow the Perimeter north and west to the Roswell Road exit, then head south on Roswell Road NE toward Chastain Park and the Buckhead office.
5009 Roswell Road NE, Suite 201
Atlanta, GA 30342
We see patients from across Stone Mountain and nearby areas including Stone Mountain Village (Main Street historic district), Smoke Rise, Hidden Hills, Rockbridge, Mountain Park.
Arthritis Treatment in Stone Mountain — Frequently Asked Questions
Do you treat arthritis patients who live in Stone Mountain?
Yes. Stone Mountain and the surrounding east DeKalb communities are part of our service area. Our only office is at 5009 Roswell Road NE, Suite 201, in Atlanta's Buckhead area, so patients travel to us rather than to a local clinic.
Can losing weight help arthritis pain?
For many patients with knee and hip arthritis, reducing body weight lowers the mechanical load on those joints and can make movement easier. Whether medical weight loss belongs in your arthritis plan is something your physician will determine during your evaluation.
Will I be referred elsewhere if I need surgery?
Yes. Our care focuses on medical management of arthritis symptoms. If your evaluation suggests you need imaging, specialty rheumatology input or surgical consultation, your physician will tell you and help direct you to appropriate care.
Is this a replacement for seeing an orthopedic surgeon or a rheumatologist?
No. It is meant to work alongside specialty care, not instead of it. We focus on the metabolic, inflammatory, and hormonal factors that contribute to joint pain, which is territory that surgical and rheumatology visits often do not have time to cover. If your evaluation suggests inflammatory arthritis or a joint advanced enough to warrant surgical consultation, we will tell you directly and help you get to the right specialist.
Does losing weight really make arthritis pain better?
For patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis who are overweight, it is one of the best-supported interventions available. Professional guidelines strongly recommend weight loss for this group, and research associates roughly a five percent reduction in body weight with measurable improvement in pain and function, with benefit generally increasing as weight loss continues. Combining it with activity your joints can tolerate works better than either alone. How much improvement any individual sees varies.
Can a GLP-1 medication like semaglutide or tirzepatide help my joints?
Possibly, though indirectly. In a randomized trial of adults with obesity and knee osteoarthritis, semaglutide 2.4 mg combined with lifestyle intervention produced both greater weight loss and a greater reduction in knee pain than placebo over 68 weeks. These medications are approved for weight management and type 2 diabetes, not as arthritis treatments, and any joint benefit appears to follow from the weight and metabolic change. Whether one is appropriate for you depends on a full medical evaluation, including contraindications and your other conditions.
Are stem cell or exosome injections an FDA-approved treatment for arthritis?
No. As of 2026 the FDA has not approved any stem cell or exosome product for osteoarthritis or other orthopedic conditions, and it has issued consumer warnings about unapproved cell and tissue products marketed for joint pain. Platelet-rich plasma and similar approaches remain investigational for these uses, and published results vary widely. We would rather give you that context honestly than sell you a promise of regrown cartilage.
I am going through menopause and my joints started aching. Are those connected?
They can be. Declining estrogen during the menopause transition affects muscle, bone, tendon, and cartilage, and widespread joint aching is a recognized part of what clinicians now describe as the musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause. That does not mean every ache is hormonal, and it does not rule out osteoarthritis occurring at the same time. Your physician will evaluate both possibilities and discuss whether hormone therapy is appropriate for you based on your symptoms, history, and screening.
How long before I notice a difference?
Most patients working on weight and metabolic health notice changes in how their joints feel over several months rather than several weeks, and improvement tends to track with actual progress rather than with starting a plan. Some people improve enough to put off a surgical conversation for a long time. Others improve meaningfully but still eventually need a joint replaced. Your physician will give you a realistic read on which situation you are likely in after evaluating you.
Want the full clinical detail? Read about our Arthritis Treatment program.