arthritis

What is arthritis?

Treatment for arthritis

Treatment for arthritis 722 406 Ace Health Centre

Treatment for arthritis

There are many different treatments for arthritis. We run through a few here.

Massage

As stated before massage can be a great way of suppressing pain and stiffness symptoms associated with OA. When arthrits is present the muscles con contract to help protect the joint. This can also increase pain. Relaxing these muscles can help reduce pain and increase mobility in the joint. Unfortunately, this is only short term until the body starts to guard or protect itself again.

Bracing treatment for arthritis

Bracing is a term used for adding support ot the area to reduce movement. As movement can cause pain reducing this help reduce the pain. On the downside, bracing can cause the joint can stiffen as it is not being used as much. This reduced mobility can mean that when it’s not braced it can be more painful. Bracing is good for the short term to help give the joint a break and reduce inflammation but isn’t always the best long-term option.

Custom orthotics

Custom orthotics work extremely well for arthritis. Not just in the feet, but are also very effective for the knees, and hips and can be for the lower back as well. They do this by redistributing pressure, changing ground reaction forces and changing the angles of the legs and feet. They can help reduce movement where needed, open up joint spaces, provide cushioning and more.

Strengthening

Usually, when it comes to people that have OA they are typically older; have had more stress placed on their joints and are also weaker. This means that they will typically need lots of strengthening. We need to target the most important. Physical assessments from physiotherapists allow the best and most specific exercise prescription to occur, thus allowing the most improvements within the shortest period and easy to manage for clients.

Injections

There are many different types of injections available for arthritis. A few include prolotherapy, Synvisc, cortisone, and local anaesthetic. At the clinic, our podiatrists perform local anesthetic injections into arthritis of the big toe and perform mobilisation. This helps free up the joint, increases mobility and breaks down some of the arthritis. This requires a few weekly appointments. Together with orthotics, this is extremely effective in reducing pain and increasing mobility in the joint.

Other treatments may include Surgery, anti-inflammatories, footwear, custom orthotics, mobilisation, heat, pain medication and more

If you are interested in seeing how we can help you contact our clinic today for more information.

What is arthritis?

What is arthritis?

What is arthritis? 722 406 Ace Health Centre

What is arthritis?

Arthritis describes the “wear and tear” joints face throughout their life span. During this process, cartilage get worn away and is replaced with bone to help strengthen the joint. In turn, this causes joint spaces to get too narrow and irritated. There are many types depending on how the wear and tear occurs; either naturally throughout the life span and due to weaknesses or malfunctioning immune responses causing the body to attack its own joints.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the damage to the joint surfaces as a result of physical load (day-to-day activities). This is usually caused when the load out-weights the strength of the surrounding muscles, thus the joint takes the load. What results is thinning/damage of cartilage (protects joint surfaces) and deposits of bone being placed where the thinning occurs over time. This process can take a while but will create permeant joint changes that are irreversible.

Symptoms of arthritis

Symptoms vary depending on the severity and can also come and go depending on life’s demands. Lot of people can even have arthritis underlying and don’t get symptoms until the joints are placed under demand or an injury occurs in a similar area.

This is due to the body becoming hyperaware and protective of arthritis to prevent further wear and tear. Thus the muscle spasms surrounding ‘worn’ joints to prevent further movement and thus limit further “wear and tear”. This means that massage is a very useful technique when it comes to the treatment OA. Relaxing the surrounding muscles will significantly reduce pain in most cases. 

OA most commonly occurs in the shoulders, lower back hips and knees as these joints are usually placed under the highest loads due to being weight-bearing joints.

There are many different treatments available for arthritis. Contact us today for a consultation to discuss options.

Blog by Christian Monks