Here's a lengthy personal experience story, to explain my bias:
My knees were always bad. One started when I was 16, the other when I was 22. In my 30s my family doctor told me it was arthritis, and put me on medication, which relieve the pain somewhat, for a while. In my 40s they were so bad I went to an orthopedist to see what kind of surgery could possibly relieve me. I was desperate.
He asked me to walk across the room, and promptly told me that my hamstrings were too tight, and I needed stretching, not surgery. He also told me that the same thing frequently causes lower back pain. So he sent me to a therapist who gave me stretching excercises, and in a month my knees were better than they'd been when I was 20. I couldn't believe I'd wasted so much time when a simple solution was at hand.
When my shoulder started giving out I tried everything, including going straight to a therapist for some stretches. And a chiropractor. And rest. And ignoring it. Finally I went back to the orthopedist, hoping for another simple miracle solution, but he did an MRI and pronounced it a torn larbrum, requiring surgery. I wasted 2 years on home remedies that weren't going to work.
The point? I dunno. Try the simple thing first---and stretching is the simplest---but if it lingers, go find out what the real problem is.