How Physical Therapy Can Help Arthritis.

More than 50 million adults in the United States have doctor-diagnosed arthritis: about 1 in every 4 adults. With the aging population, that number is expected to grow to roughly 78 million adults by 2040. The main symptoms are pain and joint stiffness, ranging from mild to severe, and they typically worsen with age. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., and if you live with it, you already know how much it can limit a normal day. A consultation with a physical therapist can help get your symptoms under control and improve your quality of life.

What Is Arthritis?

Arthritis is chronic joint inflammation that can affect any area of the body, though the spine, hands, shoulders, hips, and knees are the most common. There are more than 100 different types, including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder in the United States. It’s marked by inflammation, deterioration, and loss of cartilage in the joints, with symptoms including pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion. It’s progressive, and there’s no cure.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease: an abnormal immune response targets the joint tissues, causing inflammation. It’s chronic, tends to involve flare-ups and remission, and its symptoms (joint pain, tenderness, warmth, redness, swelling, reduced motion, fever, and joint deformity) are usually symmetrical, occurring on both sides of the body.

How Physical Therapy Can Help

The goals of physical therapy for arthritis are decreasing joint pain, increasing range of motion, and improving joint function. Your physical therapist starts with a comprehensive evaluation, then builds an individualized treatment plan around it, helping you understand your condition so you can better manage your own symptoms.

Treatment options you can continue at home include ice packs to soothe inflamed joints, heat packs to relax stiff muscles, TENS to alter how pain signals are perceived, and splinting an inflamed joint during a flare-up. In the clinic, your therapist may add manual therapy, stretching, soft tissue massage, electrotherapy, and postural or movement pattern re-training to take excess stress off the joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

Exercise and Arthritis

Exercise is one of the most effective ways to manage arthritis symptoms. Many people avoid it, worried it will increase pain or cause more joint damage, but joints are built to move, and the muscles, ligaments, and tendons around them weaken without use, which can lead to instability and reduced mobility. The right amount of exercise improves overall fitness, helps maintain a healthy weight, and improves mobility, without aggravating symptoms. Your physical therapist finds that balance and builds an individualized exercise plan around it. If you use a cane or walker, they can also make sure it’s fitted and used correctly, and suggest simple changes at home or at work to make daily tasks easier.

Why It’s Worth Addressing Early

Mobility difficulties raise your risk of trips and falls, and pain that limits work can lead to frustration or worse. Working with a physical therapist to improve mobility, and adjusting your home or workstation along the way, lowers that risk and helps you keep doing the things you need to do.