Are you experiencing pain in your joints? Do you find it tough to carry out physical activities due to pain in your knee, hip, or ankle joints? Does climbing the stairs up and down aggravates your joint pain? If your answer is yes, then perhaps you are struggling with arthritis, which stands for a group of joint diseases or inflammation that affects mobility in a big way.
Arthritis may seem like a common illness, but unfortunately, it affects the quality of life of the person suffering from this disease. There’s no denying the fact that going through your daily life will change. You’ll experience a lot of pain, and all other different kinds of discomfort. But, it doesn’t always have to be that way. Even when suffering arthritis may have seemed like the new normal for you, there are now ways by which life can improve for the better. Read through below to learn more.
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A Brief Background On Arthritis
What you need to understand here is, there are over 100 different forms of arthritis, and the most common among them is osteoarthritis, which is a progressive breakdown of cartilage – a tissue that protects bones in a joint. Apart from osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is also a common form of arthritis. It is an autoimmune disease that leads to chronic joint inflammation.
In layman’s terms, arthritis stands for chronic joint illnesses featuring inflammation that affects a person’s mobility remarkably. Joints, where two or more than two bones come together to support the body, play a significant role in moving your body parts; therefore, it’s essential for every individual to keep their joints healthy and flexible. With these definitions, it’s also easy to see now that when a person has arthritis, the ordeal is never going to be easy. Pain and discomfort in the joints is something that’s never to be taken lightly.
Most people live under the impression that arthritis only affects older adults, but that’s incorrect. It’s correct that it’s common among aging adults, but it also affects children and adults. According to the Arthritis Foundation, people of all ages, including both males and females, are vulnerable to arthritis. It is the principal cause of disability in America. It further says that over “50 million adults and 300,000 children” are struggling with some form of arthritis.
So, it’s wrong to say now that just because you’re young, this is something for you not to be worried or concerned about.
Before proceeding further, you may also want to learn more about the different types of arthritis, by reading through this resource.
The Symptoms of Arthritis
How can you distinguish arthritis from simply undergoing ordinary pain? There are symptoms that, when occurring regularly, are already telltale signs that you may have arthritis. It’s very important to be aware of these symptoms, such that you’ll also better know how to manage your disease and start treating it early.
- Joint pain that worsens during winters
- Pain in the knee, hip, and ankle joints that aggravates by indulging in physical activities
- Stiffness in joints that minimizes mobility
- Pain in joints that starts subsiding as the day unfolds
- Joint swelling that stems from inflammation
- Weakness that’s sometimes accompanied by fever
- Tiredness that occurs due to joint pain and decreases a person’s productivity
You can seek a variety of treatments for subsiding your joint pain, but if you are tired of consuming prescription drugs, and you don’t want to rely on them anymore, you can try physical therapy. Physical therapy is, without a dispute, one of the ways to manage joint pain and inflammation that occurs due to arthritis. You get incredible results from it.
According to ClearCut ORTHO, if you seek physical therapy for arthritis, your physical therapist will not only help you shed those extra pounds to avoid undue stress on your joints, but they will also help you improve your posture to prevent joint injuries in future. With a regular visit to your physical therapist, you can create a treatment plan that not only covers the present but also offer you with means to control and better manage your condition in the long run.
There is no denying that you can’t reverse arthritis, but you can surely manage its signs and symptoms. Your physical therapist would recommend you to do some exercises if you also need to lose weight, but losing weight with arthritis might be a little difficult. There are many ways on how to lose weight with arthritic knees without irritating your knees, this could be in the form of strength training to build up your muscle and help boost your body’s ability to burn more calories. For better results, it’s always beneficial to combine physical therapy with doctor prescribed medications.
If you seek physical therapy, your physical therapist will create a personalized care plan to address the signs and symptoms you are experiencing. They will incorporate the treatment techniques on your care plan based on how severe your joint inflammation is, which will play a significant role in addressing it. From massage therapy and manual therapy to heat and ice therapy and therapeutic exercise, your physical therapist can use any of these techniques to relieve your pain and address other arthritis symptoms.
Therefore, if your arthritis pain is preventing you from indulging in physical activities and it’s making it difficult for you to perform even the simple everyday activities like walking, then you must see a physical therapist without further ado. If you consider physical therapy, you will see a world of difference in your joint health in a couple of months.
The Benefits Of Physical Therapy For Arthritis Patients
Of the many different treatment options that are available for arthritis patients, one of the best is physical therapy. This naturally has to do with the very fact that with physical therapy, you’re exercising and moving your body. This includes your joints, bones, ligaments, and muscles. Undergoing physical therapy for patients suffering from arthritis brings with it many benefits, which include the following:
Subsiding Joint Pain
If you are experiencing mild to severe joint pain, considering physical therapy from a well-trained physical therapist can improve your condition in a big way within a few months. If you stick to your physical therapy sessions, as suggested by your therapist, your joint pain will start subsiding gradually. You will be able to notice the reduction in your pain within a couple of physical therapy sessions. When you seek physical therapy for arthritis, the first thing that your physical therapist focuses on is your pain.
Once the treatment manages to control your pain, your therapist will then focus on addressing other symptoms.
Easing Joint Stiffness
If arthritis is making it difficult for you to participate in sports tournaments, play with your kids, or climb stairs, you shouldn’t take it lightly. If you are doing that, you are making a big mistake. You are playing with your joint health, which can create even more health complications for you in the future. A lot of times, arthritis patients experience mobility issues due to stiff joints if your case is also similar, seeking physical therapy can solve your problem.
Your physical therapist will use techniques like joint mobilization and massage therapy to ease stiff joints.
Boosting Flexibility
It’s quite natural for you to experience a gradual reduction in your flexibility if you fail to seek quality treatment for arthritis. Whether you talk about swelling, inflammation, or joint pain, each of these problems, can affect your flexibility drastically.
However, if you consult a physical therapist the moment you start experiencing pain in your joints, you can reduce the impact of arthritis on your flexibility. But if you came to know quite late that you are struggling with arthritis, don’t worry, you can still benefit from physical therapy when it comes to boosting your flexibility. Your physical therapist will include flexibility specific exercises in your care plan that will increase your flexibility.
Shedding Extra Pounds
Overweight is a big problem for arthritis patients because it puts a lot of stress on their weight-bearing joints. So if you are also overweight, physical therapy can help you shed those extra pounds. Your physical therapist will teach you exercises that will help you reduce your weight without putting stress on your joints.
Avoiding Injuries
Physical therapy will also help you avoid joint injuries. If you are already struggling with painful joints, you will experience extreme pain and discomfort, when you hurt them further.
However, opting for physical therapy will help you avoid that; your physical therapist will teach you the right walking and exercising techniques. They will also train you on how to use assistive devices such as a cane.
Besides, physical your physical therapist will also assist you in improving your posture.
Takeaway
With all the information about arthritis provided by this article, it should now be easier for you to conclude that your life doesn’t have to end in terms of quality, simply because you’ve been diagnosed with this disease. You also don’t always have to go through drastic means for you to manage your sickness. A more humane and less invasive means could be through physical therapy. So, if you’ve long suffered from arthritis, now’s a good time for you to consider undergoing physical therapy.
Helpful Resources:
1. Top 5 Tips for Treating Knee Pain Without Medication
3. Best Exercises For A Complete Back Workout
4. Acai Bowl
