Arthritis Pain Management with Physiotherapy
Every day was a struggle for a 69-year-old woman we’ll call Donna. She developed knee osteoarthritis in her early sixties, and the pain had worsened over time, gradually decreasing her quality of life. But Donna, like many others, was able to find relief through arthritis pain management with physiotherapy.
Donna’s biggest issue was that her persistent knee pain kept her from staying as active as she would have liked. Spending an afternoon out with her friends was enough of a challenge–there was no way she could keep up with her grandkids!
When Donna visited the team at Foundation Physiotherapy and Wellness, she was surprised to learn that physical activity can actually help manage arthritis pain. She just needed a little help from our physiotherapists to prepare her body and find the best exercises for her needs.
With that in mind, we designed a personalized treatment plan to reduce Donna’s pain and improve her knee function. Through targeted exercises and manual therapy, Donna noticed key improvements, and daily activities became a little less challenging.
Donna’s story illustrates the importance of physiotherapy in arthritis pain management. Curious to see how it works? Keep reading!
Why Physiotherapy Is Important in Managing Arthritis Pain
Arthritis refers to over a hundred conditions that cause joint pain and inflammation. Donna had the most common type, osteoarthritis, which occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones degenerates. This can lead to joint pain–especially during physical activity–and joint stiffness.
There’s no cure for arthritis. However, you can manage your symptoms so you can continue to live a healthy, active lifestyle. Physiotherapy plays a crucial role in this process by helping to improve your joint’s strength, range of motion, and overall function–helping to reduce pain in the process.
Addressing arthritis with physiotherapy involves exercises tailored to strengthen the muscles around the joints and boost your overall mobility. Regular physiotherapy sessions can significantly decrease pain and improve the quality of life for those with arthritis.
For example, Donna’s tailored exercise program helped her regain knee mobility and reduce pain, allowing her to enjoy her favorite activities again without discomfort. She even found it easier to play with her grandkids!
Donna’s Arthritis Pain Management Program
To help you know what to expect when you visit Foundation Physiotherapy and Wellness for physiotherapy-based arthritis pain management, we want to share the program we developed for Donna.
The first step in developing this program was talking with Donna and learning more about her exact symptoms and her overall treatment goals. We also took a complete health history and ran a few simple movement screens to get an overall sense of the strength and mobility in her affected knee.
This information helped us create Donna’s personalized treatment program. To start, we met with her twice a week. We kicked off each session with 10-15 minutes of manual therapy, using various hands-on techniques to help reduce her acute pain levels, boost blood flow to her knee, and help her body get used to movement.
Next, we guided her through a customized exercise program. At first, we focused on simple mobility exercises to help increase the range of motion in her knee. As Donna improved, we began incorporating strengthening exercises to help decrease some of the pressure on her knee joint.
We also worked with Donna to improve her balance and gait. As an older woman with osteoarthritis, Donna had a higher-than-usual fall risk. By guiding her through progressive balance challenges and gait training exercises, we helped reduce that fall risk. Improving her gait also helped manage her pain levels.
Need Arthritis Pain Management? Give Physiotherapy A Try!
Physiotherapy and regular exercise are actually frontline treatments for all types of arthritis, meaning you want to try them before resorting to surgery or other more invasive methods. If you’re struggling with arthritis pain, schedule an appointment at Foundation Physiotherapy and Wellness to learn more about how our ON based physiotherapists can help you find relief!