By 2050, two billion people worldwide will have arthritis. (1) Your risk for arthritis increases primarily with age, but there are other risk factors you should be aware of to prevent its development and keep your body moving. If you’re already experiencing painful joints, JACO’s physical therapists are here to help.
We’re here to teach you more about arthritis, who develops it, and how you can prevent it. If you need help addressing current joint pain, we have some tips and tricks up our sleeves.
What is Arthritis?
Arthritis is a general term for joint pain and inflammation. A joint diagnosed with arthritis often appears worn on x-ray with limited space between the two bones due to thinning cartilage that is supposed to cushion your movements and impact. But the absence of cartilage from wear-and-tear or previous injury removes the joint’s ability to absorb shock and lubricate movement, often leading to pain and limited motion.
While painful joints are not normal, wear-and-tear is. Our joints naturally change with age, just as our skin develops wrinkles. This “degeneration” is apparent on x-ray, but it doesn’t always equate to pain. Many people walk around with arthritis in their hips, neck, back, or knees and have no idea.
But for others, it is a painful condition that requires treatment. Conservative treatment can go a long way in helping people overcome their pain and stiffness, but if the joint is severely restricting your day-to-day, joint replacements are the best surgical option.
Types of Arthritis
There are a few types of arthritis that you can develop. These two are the most common:
- Osteoarthritis (OA): This is the traditional type of arthritis that most people develop with age, often associated with decreased cartilage space due to wear or previous injuries. Sometimes this is painful and limiting, but isn’t always so.
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA): This is a genetic autoimmune type of arthritis that can develop in adults. It’s characterized by flare-ups that are painful and limiting, followed by a period of remission.
Risk Factors
The most common risk factor associated with developing arthritis is age, but there are other factors that highly influence your risk.
- Obesity: Links closely with both RA and OA.
- Smoking: Most associated with RA.
- Gender: Women are most likely to develop both types of arthritis.
- Joint injury: Most associated with OA.
- Genetics: Often influences risk for both types, but is more closely associated with RA.
How to Prevent Arthritis
The best way to prevent arthritis is by maintaining proper fitness. Adequate muscular support reinforces joints and ward away injury, so exercising regularly and lubricating your joints with full-range movement keeps your joints healthy. Not only will this help protect your joints as you age, it also keeps your weight under control so your joints don’t experience undo stress.
Exercising, regardless of age, doesn’t have to be complicated or require an expensive gym membership. Taking care of your body and joints with movement can look like walking, lifting weights at home, or swimming at the local beach. But proper form does matter. If you’re new to exercise or you feel uncomfortable while lifting or running, talk to a trainer or a physical therapist who can teach you how to perform your exercises in a way that supports your joints.
While nutrition advice isn’t entirely within our scope, it’s worth mentioning. Choosing healthy foods has been known to help decrease overall inflammation and pain, especially if you have RA. (2) Remember that there’s no medicinal cure for joint degeneration, but you can improve your symptoms and quality of life by making healthy choices.
Does Physical Therapy Help Arthritis?
If you’re already experiencing joint pain, don’t wait to have it addressed. Many symptoms are easily treatable with conservative methods, like physical therapy.
When you see a physical therapist for arthritis, they will perform a full examination to see what movements are causing your pain. Then, they use this information to develop a treatment plan specific to your health status and your home environment. For example, if your knee hurts while climbing your stairs, pain-free stair climbing will be a goal throughout your rehabilitation.
Physical therapists may use joint mobilization techniques or soft tissue manipulation to loosen surrounding muscles and tissue structures at first, but over time, emphasis is placed on your movement goals. This involves homework on your end, so be ready to exercise on your own between sessions to progress according to plan.
What Does Treatment Focus On?
Although therapists tailor sessions specifically to you, mobility and strength are the two biggest themes when treating any joint with arthritis.
- Mobility: This refers to the range of motion of the joint, creating and preserving as much pain-free movement as possible using manual techniques by the therapist or by introducing movement slowly as the joint allows.
- Strength: Muscles surrounding the joint and neighboring joints are trained to coordinate properly with your everyday movements. For example, if you have knee osteoarthritis, it’s important to address the muscles around the knee as well as the muscles around the hip and core to improve control of your limb, distribute force away from the painful joint, and establish better general movement habits.
If you’re not feeling improvements after the first or second round of therapy, it may be time to talk to your doctor about other options. Corticosteroid injections are popular options to remove pain and inflammation, but without adequate rehab, the original issue can return. Joint replacements are usually the next step after trying all conservative treatment options.
Reach out!
If you’re experiencing joint pain, call JACO Rehab and learn how to schedule your evaluation. We also help patients who are preparing for or recovering from joint replacement surgery. We’ll be happy to work with you!
Sources
1. Bliddal, H., Leeds, A. R., & Christensen, R. (2014). Osteoarthritis, obesity and weight loss: evidence, hypotheses and horizons–a scoping review. Obesity reviews, 15(7), 578-586.
2. Philippou, E., & Nikiphorou, E. (2018). Are we really what we eat? Nutrition and its role in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Autoimmunity reviews, 17(11), 1074-1077.