Arthritis causes joints to stiffen and swell, leading to pain and loss of mobility. Physical therapy is designed to help get you moving again with decreased pain and better range of motion. But how much is too much?
Dr. Ajay Kumar and our team at New Jersey Advanced Pain Management Center can help you with your arthritis issues by prescribing a personalized treatment plan, and that could include physical therapy sessions customized to relieve your pain and stiffness and give you back the ability to move around.
There are several different types of arthritis, but the most common is osteoarthritis, caused by wear and tear and aging. Osteoarthritis can affect your joints and spine and make it difficult to do normal daily activities such as cleaning the house, dressing yourself, or driving a car.
If you have arthritis, your doctor may recommend that you see a pain management specialist like Dr. Kumar, who’s experienced in treating arthritis and can design a treatment plan just for you. While minimally invasive surgery can help in severe cases, Dr. Kumar starts with conservative treatment approaches such as ice and heat, pain medication, and physical therapy.
Physical therapy (PT) is used to help arthritis patients as well as people recovering from trauma or surgery. It usually involves a variety of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles around your joints and make your joints more flexible.
Common PT goals for people with arthritis include:
Commitment to your PT program can result in a better life for you despite your arthritis.
In most cases, physical therapy helps arthritis patients, but it’s critical to see a practitioner who’s knowledgeable and skilled in creating PT plans that target your specific affected joints. PT certainly isn’t one-size-fits-all.
If you’re directed to perform a move or routine that causes or increases your pain levels beyond mild discomfort or soreness, your PT could be doing more harm than good. Physical therapy should never cause severe pain.
The right PT program combined with appropriate rest, thermal modalities, and a sensible diet should slowly allow you to do more and more things that you used to take for granted. When you meet with your physical therapist about your arthritis, make sure to tell them about the things you want to be able to do and your hopes for treatment outcomes.
Your PT team will work with you to loosen and strengthen your joints, relieve swelling and pain, and make living with arthritis much easier. Over time, you may even find that you don’t need as much pain medicine and you’re enjoying things you never thought you’d do again.
Is arthritis ruining your life? The team at New Jersey Advanced Pain Management Center can help recommend the right treatment approach for you. Please schedule an appointment by contacting our team in Hackettstown, New Jersey, Matamoras, Pennsylvania, or Warwick, New York, today.
