The Three Stages of Overcoming Arthritis
Will Physical Therapy Help My Arthritis?
Imagine you are sitting anxiously in the examination room at your doctor’s office. Your doctor is about to share the results of your most recent knee x-ray. You have been dealing with this pain for years and it finally has gotten to the point where you are unsure if you have arthritis or what to do. Your physician displays the results and states your knee is “bone on bone” and that there is nothing they could do to reverse your condition. As they go on to discuss the details of next steps, your mind wanders…
“How did I get this way?”
“How can I fix it?”
“Will my pain ever go away?”
“Will I really need a joint replacement, or is there something I can do to avoid it?”
Your doctor gives you a prescription for physical therapy and tells you to return in six weeks. And just like that, you are sent on your way—wondering how arthritis might change your life.
It’s a common situation. We want you to know that you are not alone. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder in the United States. The most common joints we see affected by osteoarthritis are knees, hips, hands, and the spine. It’s caused by a reduction in cartilage around joints and can decrease mobility, increase pain, and cause tenderness too.
These degenerative changes are the result of factors including aging, past injury, overuse, and weight changes to name a few. However, osteoarthritis can occur without producing pain at all, particularly if those joint changes are related to the normal aging process.
How Can Physical Therapy Help Reduce Arthritis Discomfort?
Now you must really be wondering, what can physical therapy do for my arthritis situation? Though we cannot “fix” the changes happening in your joint, we can optimize your movements, offload your joint, and help you towards your functional goals. Upon evaluation, a physical therapist will determine what your limitations are and how much your arthritis discomfort is affecting your daily life. At Summit Physical Therapy, we work within three stages to help our patients with osteoarthritis.
Stage One: Reduce Pain and Inflammation
Reducing pain levels and inflammation is essential to allow you to move and work towards your goals. This stage can be achieved in multiple ways:
Manual therapy such as soft tissue massage and joint mobilization
Modalities such as hot or cold pack and electrical stimulation
Gentle exercise
Reducing pain and inflammation may be performed in conjunction with the stages below based on your response to therapy. Once your pain levels are reduced, treatment for long term prevention of symptoms can move forward.
Stage Two: Improve Mobility
The next stage involves improving the stiffness associated with arthritis. Working on your active range of motion (the amount of movement YOU can produce on your own) will allow you to improve the quality of your day-to-day tasks. For example, with limited mobility at your knees, it may be stiff and uncomfortable to sit in a chair. Working through simple exercises to bend your knees to their maximal capacity, frequently, may allow you to sit with less discomfort. Over time, you can improve your range of motion to a functional level, and some individuals can even restore full mobility with physical therapy.
Stage Three: Improve Strength, Stability, and Restore function
Building strength is another element of rehabilitation that is essential to restoring function with reduced pain levels. When space is compromised in any given joint, support is necessary to restore comfortable movements. Strengthening both above and below the affected joint is the most effective way to offload compressive forces. It’s almost like creating a cradle around an area that needs assistance. For example, appropriate activation of the muscles around the knee at the thigh, hip, and ankle can support standing, walking, and steps. Tailored treatment to your goals in the end stages of rehabilitation will piece together pain free mobility and strength to help you perform at your best.
In summary, physical therapy can guide you through a complete rehabilitation process to help you perform at your best. There is high quality and a large quantity of evidence supporting exercise, staying active, and leading a healthy lifestyle for optimal function and reduction of pain in patients with osteoarthritis.
If you are unsure about where to start to reach your goals and are dealing with arthritis, we are here to help! Reach out and request an appointment to get started. You can also call our office at 908-589-9009 and our team will help schedule your appointment.
Resources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/osteoarthritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351925
Physical Therapy Interventions for Patients With Osteoarthritis of the Knee: An Overview of Systematic Review; Gro Jamtvedt, Kristin Thuve Dahm, Anne Christie, Rikke H Moe, Espen Haavardsholm, Inger Holm, Kåre B Hagen
Hip Pain and Mobility Deficits— Hip Osteoarthritis: Revision 2017 MICHAEL T. CIBULKA, DPT • NANCY J. BLOOM, DPT • KEELAN R. ENSEKI, PT, MS • CAMERON W. MACDONALD, DPT JUDITH WOEHRLE, PT, PhD • CHRISTINE M. MCDONOUGH, PT, PhD
Epidemiology of Osteoarthritis; Yuqing Zhang, D.Sc1 and Joanne M. Jordan, MD, MPH2 Yuqing Zhang: yuqing@bu.edu; Joanne M. Jordan: joanne_jordan@med.unc.edu ; Clincial Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, 650 Albany Street, Suite x200, Boston, MA 02118, USA; Thurston Arthritis Research Center, 3300 Doc J. Thurston, Jr. Building, CB#7280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7289, US
Guideline for the Management of Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis, 2nd Ed.