Arthritis

People with arthritis often benefit from physical therapy. Our physical therapists can teach you how to work out stiffness without further damaging your joints. Physical therapy is useful after an injury, such as from a fall, and after joint surgery, especially for artificial joint replacement. If you’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in your knee, hip, shoulder, or other joints, you probably want to know how to relieve your joint pain. To achieve these goals, our physical therapists may combine some strategies such as:

MAINTAIN OR INCREASE JOINT RANGE OF MOTION Osteoarthritis can make a joint stiff. Physical therapy can improve your ability to bend and straighten a joint. Even incremental improvements in a joint’s range of motion can make a significant difference in joint function.

STRENGTHEN THE MUSCLE THAT SUPPORTS AN ARTHRITIC JOINT When osteoarthritis causes protective cartilage to wear away in a joint, there is painful friction between the joint’s bones. You can decrease this friction by strengthening the surrounding muscles that support the joint. Our skilled physical therapists can identify areas of impairments and teach you how to address these impairments.

IMPROVE BALANCE Individuals with osteoarthritis often have impaired balance resulting from muscle weakness, decreased joint function, decreased mobility, and other factors. Our skilled physical therapists may incorporate balance components into your treatment plan that include changes in terrain/ surface, walking distances, and elevation to simulate daily functional tasks in effort to improve balance and reduce your risk of falling.

ADJUST POSTURE Good posture can take stress off arthritic joints. Our physical therapists can educate you about ways to adjust your posture and put less stress on joints as you sit, stand, and walk. This may include suggestions to modify your environment at home and work, and even in your car. Simple changes, such as adjusting the position of your car seat, can put less stress on your arthritic joint to make your daily routine easier.

While it is impossible to turn back the hands of time to eliminate the effects of arthritis, osteoarthritis/degeneration, physical therapy is proven to be able to help decrease symptoms of pain and stiffness associated with it. In addition, physical therapy helps to slow down the degenerative process by improving the strength and stability in muscles that surround a given joint, thereby decreasing the wear and tear to your joints from activities of daily living.

For more information: Pro Motion Rehab: 828-837-0400