Osteoarthritis Therapy
Cartilage, the same rubbery, fleshy material as your nose and ears, covers the ends of your bones to reduce friction between them. It works as a “shock absorber” to keep pain minimized when the bones push close together. Without it, the tendons and ligaments that connect bones together and keep muscles on the bones begin to stretch and cause pain. In some cases, the cartilage can degenerate completely, leaving bones to rub against each other. This condition is called osteoarthritis.
It is more common for women over 50 to have osteoarthritis than men of the same age. It isn’t unheard of for people as young as 20 can develop this painful form of arthritis. This condition can be crippling depending on how severe the pain is. Although, there are different things we can do at HealthCARE Express Physical and Occupational Therapy to aid those with osteoarthritis in returning to a higher quality of life.
Osteoarthritis pain can be made worse by several things. If you are physically unfit or overweight your arthritis could be made worse. Having strong muscles around your joints helps support them and keeps them from rubbing together as much. To help with developing that muscle strength, HCE Physical and Occupational therapy offers different types of strengthening exercises to do at our clinic as well as at home. Depending on the severity of your osteoarthritis, this type of therapy may even reduce the amount of medication you need to take for pain or may even eliminate the need for surgery!
Our treatment for this form of arthritis may include manual therapy, kinesiotaping, an exercise program, an educational program for how to live with your condition without causing more pain, aquatic therapy, and more! This program is intended to improve muscle strength, flexibility, and stability. This combination should help in relieving some of your osteoarthritis pain!
If you have osteoarthritis and it is interfering with your quality of life, have your doctor refer you to us at HealthCARE Express Physical and Occupational Therapy!
