Pain Relief For Arthritis
Does arthritis pain stop you from exercising, pursuing the hobbies you love, or even from enjoying quality time with your family? You’re not alone. Arthritis affects more than 50 million Americans, and it’s the most common cause of disability today. One of the worst things about arthritis is that its effects are often progressive. With each passing year, you might find it harder and harder to live without pain and to enjoy full mobility. Physical therapy with an experienced physical therapist can help you feel and move better, now and for the rest of your life. Contact our office now to get pain relief for arthritis at The Fitness Lab.
What is Arthritis?
Arthritis is a disease that causes problems with your joints. While the majority of people who suffer from arthritis are adults, it can also affect children. There are several symptoms that may lead your doctor to consider a diagnosis of arthritis.
Those symptoms can include:
- Swelling in your joints
- Skin redness around your joints
- New bone growth around your joints
- Chronic fatigue
- Weight loss
- Restricted movement
Your family physician or medical specialist typically diagnose arthritis by taking a comprehensive medical history, performing a physical examination, and analyzing urinalysis and blood test results.
Causes of Arthritis
There are many different kinds of arthritis, but the two most common types are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis, which is also called degenerative arthritis, the cartilage within your joints is damaged. In rheumatoid arthritis, which is also called inflammatory arthritis, your immune system turns on itself to start attacking your joint lining. Damage can include both cartilage and bone destruction over time.
Although the exact cause of arthritis isn’t always known, the most common contributing factors are:
- Heredity: if your parents, siblings, or other immediate relatives suffer from arthritis, you’re more likely to have it yourself.
- Age: the odds of arthritis increase as you age.
- Obesity: when the body has to support a lot of extra weight, it puts a major strain on weight-bearing joints.
- Joint injury: previous joint injury leaves your joints more vulnerable to developing arthritis.
- Infection: both bacterial and viral infections can have residual effects that contribute to arthritis.
No matter what the cause of your arthritis, there is hope. Your physical therapist can help you live a full life again.
How Physical Therapy Helps Arthritis
Although there isn’t currently a cure for arthritis, there are highly effective solutions for arthritis pain and mobility issues. While medication can help with pain, it provides only temporary relief that does nothing to solve your long-term issues.
Physical therapy is a powerful and non-invasive way to get pain relief for arthritis as well as freedom from your other symptoms — all without medication. To get the best possible outcome, physical therapy should begin as soon as you’re diagnosed with arthritis. This can help ensure that your symptoms don’t become debilitating in the long term.
Physical therapy helps with arthritis in many ways. Your therapist will help you strengthen your body while still protecting your joints using a customized exercise plan. If you need a medical device like a walker, you’ll learn the best usage techniques to guard against injury while still growing stronger. When your body is strong and your joints are properly protected, you’ll experience fewer symptoms and have a lower chance of injury.
Your physical therapist also helps with natural pain relief. You’ll use effective pain relief methods such as heat application, cold pack application, and ultrasound therapy. You’ll have some of these pain relief treatments here at our facility, and you’ll also learn how to perform natural pain relief treatments like heat application at home as needed. Your physical therapist will make sure that you have the tools you need to feel your best.
Arthritis pain, stiffness, and mobility problems don’t have to rule your life any longer. Our physical therapy team delivers expert evaluation, customized treatment programs, and great results. Contact us anytime or visit us at one of our locations in Denver, Highlands Ranch, South Denver, Evergreen, Greenwood Village, or Parker, CO (Field House and Mainstreet)! We’re ready to help you put arthritis pain in your past.
FAQs
What are the symptoms for arthritis pain?
Do your joints feel stiff, achy, or painful, especially when you wake up in the morning? If so, you may be experiencing the effects of arthritis. This is one of the most common symptoms of arthritis, but it is common to also expereince accompanying symptoms. Other sensations you may experience with arthritis include pain in the affected region, which may spread to surrounding body parts; persistent stiffness; inflammation; muscle spasms, joint creaking, clicking, or popping sounds; increased pain with certain activities, such as work or exercise; decreased range of motion in the affected area, abnormalities in gait, such as limping; swelling; weakness; and a warm sensation in the affected joint.
What are the best physical therapy treatments for arthritis pain?
Regardless of the cause of arthritis, physical therapy plays a major role in the treatment of its symptoms. Your physical therapist will conduct a physical evaluation to analyze your joint movement, muscle strength, and overall function, in order to pinpoint the exact areas that are causing you pain. You will then be prescribed a personalized treatment plan, focused around your specific needs. Treatment plans will include targeted stretches and exercises aimed at relieving your pain and improving your function, in addition to any specialized methods your physical therapist deems fit. This may include manual therapy, ice and heat therapies, electrical stimulation, or ultrasound. Your physical therapist may also include additional services as needed, such as weight management techniques to help ease some stress on your joints, and/or posture improvement to relieve stiffness and prevent injury.
Can arthritis affect different body parts?
There are over 100 different types of arthritis, containing monoarthritis (where only one joint is affected) and oligoarthritis (where multiple joints are affected). According to the Centers for Disease Control, roughly 54.4 million U.S. adults are diagnosed with some form of arthritis per year. As we age, the cartilage in our joints wears down, causing painful bone-on-bone rubbing, inflammation, stiffness, and pain. While it is possible for arthritis to develop in any of the joints, the fingers, elbows, shoulders, lower back, hips, and knees are among the most common.
Can arthritis be cured?
While there is no cure for arthritis yet, it is possible to alleviate arthritic symptoms by improving your joint movement, muscle strength, balance, and coordination through physical therapy treatments. In some cases, physical therapy can even make it possible to eliminate symptoms entirely. For best results, it is in your best interest to consult with a physical therapist as soon as you begin noticing arthritic symptoms. The sooner they get treated, the easier they are to manage. Whatever type of arthritis you may be suffering from, physical therapy undoubtedly plays an important role in pain relief. In addition, it can also help you avoid the need for harmful pain-management drugs or invasive surgical correction.