Physiotherapy for Arthritis
If you’ve been diagnosed with arthritis in places such as your knee, hip, shoulder, or other joints, then you may benefit from arthritis physiotherapy. At ProActive Physiotherapy, our licensed physiotherapists are trained in arthritis rehabilitation and can help you feel like yourself in no time! Our physiotherapists also use a combination of practices and strategies to treat your arthritis. Before we learn about the practices employed to treat arthritis, we need to know exactly what arthritis is first, so…
What is Arthritis?
Arthritis describes more than 100 conditions that affect the joints, the tissues around the joint, and other connective tissues. Arthritis is the inflammation or swelling of one or more joints, while symptoms of arthritis often include joint pain and stiffness. Although there is no cure for arthritis, treatments have improved greatly over the recent years, and for many types of arthritis, there’s a clear benefit in starting treatment at the earliest stage. Arthritis can have severe effects on your everyday life. Walking and bending may become challenging. Picking up and using items with your hands can become painful, and even simple daily tasks can become tedious.
What Are My Options?
It’s important to talk to your doctor if you are experiencing any of these symptoms. You should treat it as quickly as possible. Some common treatments for arthritis include traditional oral medications such as NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Physiotherapy is often used to treat arthritis by reducing swelling and increasing strength in the joints. In more extreme cases, joint injections and joint surgery are used to help reduce inflammation long term.
How Can Physiotherapy for Arthritis Help Me?
We treat arthritis at ProActive Physiotherapy. We use a variety of techniques to treat arthritis. Using these techniques we can improve your arthritic joint function and reduce pain and swelling, letting you get back to your life.
Increasing Joint Range Of Motion
Arthritis tends to make your joints stiff, physiotherapy can improve your ability to bend your joints, along with straightening them. Even minimal changes within a joint’s range of motion can make an impactful difference. For example, being able to bend your arthritic knee just 10 more degrees will allow you to comfortably get in and out of lower chairs.
Strengthening Muscles Around Arthritic Joints
Arthritis can cause the protective cartilage to wear away in and around a joint. This causes painful friction between the bones in the joints. Physiotherapy can also reduce this friction by strengthening the surrounding muscles that work to support the joint. Our physiotherapists can identify areas of impairments and then work with you to address and repair these impairments with functional strengthening. This also helps to improve strength and stability in your joints.
Adjust Posture
Having good posture can take the stress off of our arthritic joints. Your physiotherapist will also be able to educate you on ways you can adjust your posture and workspace to put less stress on your joints as you sit, stand, or walk. These may even be simple changes such as adjusting the position of your car seat to put less stress on your joints. This will make your daily routine easier.
Improve Balance
Individuals with arthritis tend to experience imbalances resulting from decreased joint function, decreased mobility, muscle weakness, and other factors. If you are lacking balance our skilled physiotherapists may also recommend balance components along with functional strengthening in your treatment plan.
How Do I Start My Physiotherapy for Arthritis?
You shouldn’t have to suffer in silence from arthritis. Come into ProActive Physiotherapy today and let us help you feel like yourself again. Our trained physiotherapists are very familiar with arthritis cases and know how to help relieve your pain. We have the arthritis physiotherapy Edmonton loves! Visit ProActive Physiotherapy today at one of our two Edmonton, AB locations, or call, or book an appointment online.
