There may be a lot of people out there who are dealing with arthritis and think that there’s nothing that can be done to make their situation better. “Hey, I’ve got this arthritic joint. Maybe the only thing I can do is run to the medicine cabinet and grab a bottle of Tylenol or ibuprofen.” I would like to suggest an alternative to that, which is trying physical therapy which has the ability to reduce and manage arthritic pain naturally.
Let’s first start out by defining a couple of terms.
What Is Arthritis?
Most of the time when we’re talking about arthritis, we are talking about osteoarthritis, which is the breakdown of cartilage, the material that surrounds our bones.
A lot of times I’ll use the analogy of a tooth cavity, since most people are familiar with those. We’ve got this protective enamel that surrounds and coats our teeth. A cavity is when that enamel starts to wear away and we have a hole in the tooth. Arthritis is kind of the same thing. The cartilage that surrounds the joint is starting to break down and wear away.
What Is Bone on Bone?
That’s usually seen in an x-ray. “I had an x-ray of my knee and it showed that I was bone on bone.” What does that mean?
When we do an x-ray, cartilage doesn’t show up. But you can make some determinations about the health of that joint by looking at that x-ray.
In a normal x-ray of a knee, you’d have the two bones with some space in between them. That’s because there is still cartilage surrounding those joint surfaces. It’s the cartilage that creates the space between those bones.
In an arthritic joint, that cartilage has broken down and started to wear away. In that x-ray, instead of those bones being spaced apart, those bones are resting on top of each other. Hence, the term bone on bone.
Can Young People Have Arthritis?
I think another misunderstanding is that arthritis is something that only old people get. Yes, it’s more prevalent in the older adult, but it is a natural process of aging that actually starts fairly early in life. Your average 30-year-old is probably going to have some mild degenerative changes in a joint. Certainly by the time we’re in our forties, there’s going to be some mild to moderate changes in that joint.
What Are Arthritis Symptoms?
What does arthritis feel like? What does it look like? The common symptoms of arthritis include:
- Stiff joints
- Swelling
- Pain
Let’s use the knee as an example. If a person has an arthritic knee, it’s typically stiff and sore when they get up in the morning. They get moving a little bit better and it starts to feel a little bit better.
However, if they do too much, then they usually go back to those same symptoms. The symptoms also return after prolonged inactivity. If you go on a long car ride, you get out of the car after an hour and oh my gosh, that knee won’t move anymore.
How Physical Therapy Relieves Arthritis Pain
In physical therapy, we don’t address the actual arthritis. We can’t magically put that cartilage back in. But a lot of times if we can improve mobility, if we can strengthen the muscles that surround that joint to help provide some cushion and some shock absorption, that greatly reduces those symptoms.
Another way to treat arthritis is by creating motion. One of the things that I hear from patients all the time is, “Gosh, if we could just put some WD-40 in there, my knee would feel better.” Our bodies have that kind of natural WD-40. It’s called synovial fluid. The more we move a joint back and forth, the more we are spreading that lubrication. We often use the phrase, “Motion is lotion” because we’re lubricating that joint.
Best Exercises for Arthritis Relief
Some great ways to get joint movement are unloaded activities such as bicycling, where we’re not creating an impact on arthritic joints. Another great activity is swimming in a pool. We have a therapy pool here at Rebound and the buoyancy of water helps us take the weight off aching joints.
It’s amazing how many people come in here and can only walk for five or 10 minutes because of back pain or knee pain. You put them in an unloaded environment like the pool, and all of a sudden they’re able to exercise for half an hour or 45 minutes without being limited by pain. That gives them the opportunity to build those muscles up to increase the strength that they need to live a more healthy and active life.
If you’re out there and if you’ve got stiff joints, if you’re suffering from pain and you feel like there’s nothing you can do, give us a call at 785-271-5533. Let our team of experts go to work for you and get you moving and feeling better. Rebound is a family-owned, outpatient physical therapy clinic that has been proudly serving Topeka and the surrounding communities since 1994.
