The Secret To Managing Arthritis Pain Without Medication
Arthritis affects more than 50 million American adults and is also the leading cause of disability in the United States. Most people believe it’s something that people only experience with old age, but it can actually happen to anyone at any age!
Arthritis can come from pain in the ankles, knees, hands, elbows, or hips. Sometimes it’s pops in your knee as you descend a flight of stairs, or a painful crack in your fingers when you try to open a jar.
More than 300,000 children and infants in the United States alone are diagnosed with arthritis, and unfortunately, this is a struggle that many of these children have dealt with from birth.
There’s a good chance you won’t realize how much you depend on your joints to perform painlessly until you’re experiencing joint pain daily. One of the best treatments for pain caused by arthritis is physical therapy. Most people think that physical therapy is a treatment only suitable for those who have suffered an injury or have a chronic health condition, but this isn’t true.
Seeking the help of a physical therapist for the treatment of arthritis pain is highly recommended and super effective in many cases. To learn more, call ClearCut ORTHO today to schedule an appointment with one of our skilled physical therapists, and learn the secret behind managing arthritis pain without medication.
4 Ways A Physical Therapist Can Relieve Arthritis Pain
Arthritis can happen to anyone at any age, and unfortunately, there is no cure for it. Though women are more likely to experience joint pain than men, statistics show almost two-thirds of people dealing with pain from arthritis are of working age. This means regardless of gender, those between the ages of 20 and 65 are actually at the greatest risk of developing this type of pain. Learning how to manage arthritis head-on is important, and while pain medications can help to reduce the amount of pain you feel, pills don’t fix the problem.
Physical therapy is commonly referred to as one of the best solutions for the treatment of arthritis joint pain because it helps to not only treat the underlying cause of your problem, in many cases it can also keep it from worsening over time as well.
Here are four ways that physical therapy can help to manage and relieve arthritis pain.
- Therapy targets your pain through specialized treatments. Hot and cold therapy, therapeutic massage, and chiropractic care all provide optimal pain relief from arthritis. Many physical therapists utilize these forms of therapy.
- It can help improve muscle strength, which supports your joints. Weakness in the surrounding muscles can put extra stress on your joints, thereby causing you to experience more joint pain during the smallest movements, like writing or picking up an object.
- You’ll have a better range of motion. Physical therapy is a great way to improve your range of motion, which in turn supports optimal joint functionality.
- Physical therapists are experts at targeting the source of joint pain. Occasionally arthritis pain may be triggered by an environmental factor. Working with an experienced physical therapist can provide insight into the cause of your pain. Your physical therapist can help you make adjustments to environmental factors to decrease your level of discomfort.
What will a physical therapist do?
There are tons of different treatment methods and modalities a physical therapist may employ to help relieve arthritis pain for you. Two ways are through manual therapy and targeting painful joints
Manual Therapy
Physical therapy isn’t just about doing specialized exercises. Manual therapy is the hands-on component of PT. These treatments not only give arthritic patients much-needed pampering, but they also ease discomfort. Manual pain relief treatment often forms a significant portion of a physical therapy session for arthritis. Massage, heat and cold applications, and even specialized machines all play a part in easing aching joints.
Isolating Painful Joints
Sometimes, rest is the best cure for arthritic joints. Yet it’s impractical for most people to take long rest cures in bed. In fact, too much inactivity can actually worsen the problem by weakening surrounding muscles.
Instead, your physical therapist can help to isolate a painful joint. Bracing provides natural pain relief for your arthritic condition. A specialized neck collar, a wrist splint — wherever your arthritic pain may be, specialized support for that joint is possible. This type of bracing is another aspect of natural pain relief for arthritis.
Call our clinic today for arthritis relief!
If you are experiencing regular joint pain that is interrupting your life, then it’s important that you know help is around the corner. No matter what age you are, the correct way to ensure that your treatment is right for your personal needs is to consult a physical therapist. The beauty of physical therapy is that it is targeted and customized treatment catered to your individual pain-needs. Contact ClearCut Ortho today for more information on setting up an appointment with a physical therapist, so you can get back to doing the things you love without arthritis pain.