how to recover from arthritis in physiotherapy
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What is Arthritis ?
Arthritis is inflammation ofthe joints (the points wherebones meet) in one or more areasof the body.
if you have trouble movingaround or feel pain and stiffnessin your body, you could havearthritis. In the majority of casesarthritis causes pain and swellingin the joints. Eventually a swollenjoint can suffer severe damage. Insome cases, arthritis can causeproblems in the patient's eye,skin or other organs.
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What Causes Arthritis?
• Cartilage is a flexible,connective tissue in jointsthat absorbs the pressureand shock created frommovement like running andwalking. It also protects thejoints and allows for smoothmovement.
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Signs and symptoms of Arthritis
The symptoms of arthritis depend onthe type,
Osteoarthritis
The symptoms of osteoarthritisdevelop slowly and get worse astime goes by. There is pain in ajoint, either during or after use,or after a period of inactivity.There will be tenderness whenpressure is applied to the joint.The joint will be stiff, especiallyfirst thing in the morning.
The patient may find it harder to usethe joint - it loses its flexibility
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Signs and symptoms of Arthritis
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Rheumatoid arthritis
The patient often finds the samejoints in each side of the bodyare painfully swollen, inflamed,and stiff. The fingers, arms, legsand wrists are most commonlyaffected.
Symptoms are usually worst onwaking up in the morning andthe stiffness can last for 30minutes at this time. The joint istender when touched. Handsmay be red and puffy.
Signs and symptoms of Arthritis
Infectious arthritisThe patient commonly has
a fever, joint inflammationand swelling with infectiousarthritis. They will feeltenderness and/or a sharppain. Often these symptomsare linked to an injury oranother illness.
Most commonly affected areasare the knee, shoulder,elbow, wrist and finger. Inthe majority of cases justone joint is affected.
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How will it affect me?
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Arthritis affects people inmany different ways. Howlong the patient isaffected and how severelyit is depends on the typeof arthritis. Arthritissufferers will find thereare good and bad days.Most patients witharthritis will suffer fromdiscomfort, pain, stiffnessand/or fatigue.
How to Recover from Arthritis in Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy plays an important role in managing arthritis. It can help you to maintain independence through improving your mobility, strength and flexibility
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What do physiotherapists do?
Physiotherapists have a detailedunderstanding of the body andmovement. They work withpeople with limited mobility –from injury, arthritis oranother condition – providingadvice, guided exercises andreferral to other services.
Physiotherapists can devisesimple exercise programmesthat you can practice at hometo help you build your strengthand flexibility.
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What will happen in physiotherapy?
The physiotherapist will examineyour posture, muscles, and, ifrelevant, the way you walk. Theywill ask about the activities whichcause you pain.
They will offer you advice and designa personalized treatment plan.This may include:
• exercise• posture• hydrotherapy• massage• pain relief techniques, such as
electrotherapy
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Exercise
Treatments to relieve pain and stiffness
A balanced programme of rest andexercise, and careful attention tojoint posture is an important partof pain management, joint protectionand maintenance of your jointfunction.Controlled exercise helps lessen pain
and stiffness and improves thestrength of muscles and ligaments, sohelping to stabilize joints. This isessential in all aspects of self careand particularly important before andafter joint surgery.
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Manual therapy
Mobilisation and manipulation techniques are passive movements applied to a joint or soft tissue by the therapist in a specific manner to help restore full movement to a joint that is painful and restricted.Manual therapy is often useful in the chronic forms of arthritis and is often successful when other methods such as heat and exercises have given little or no relief.
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Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy or pooltherapy is a very usefulmeans of exercising arthriticjoints using the buoyancy ofwater to assist or resistmovement. The warmth ofthe water increases thecirculation and helps reducemuscle spasms, producingmore effective movement.Joint mobility, musclestrength and general fitnesscan be improved withhydrotherapy.
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