Arthritis: Look for Relief Even on the Move!

"Some things can never be changed" and osteoarthritis (OA) is one such degenerative disorder, which cannot be reversed once you get it. But does that mean that there is no remedy for OA and one has to limit his activities and movements? Advances in both medical and paramedical sciences have made life of arthritics easy even when they are on move. The aim of this article is to highlight briefly the different treatment options and ideas available for the arthritic people who want to be on the move and remain pain-free while doing so.

Remedies that Keep You on the Move

Here are some remedies that can lessen your suffering and keep you going:

1. Physical Therapy: No matter what stage your arthritis is in, physical therapy is greatly beneficial. In acute cases, modalities like these can be used to control pain and inflammation.
   • Cold/Heat therapy
   • Ultrasound/Diathermy/Microwave/Shortwave
   • TENS (transcutaneous electrical neuromuscular stimulation)
   Once the pain and inflammation subsides, improving range of motion and muscle strength becomes a priority as weak lower limb muscles (as seen in many with osteoarthritis of the knee) results in reduced ability of these muscles to soothe the potentially injurious impact loading and make the movements painful. Apart from this, improvement in muscle coordination and balance can also be helpful. Some of the exercises that can be done are isolated isometric, isokinetic, and isotonic exercises. If the individual is overweight, then aquatic exercises and open kinetic chain exercises are advisable.
2. Activity Modification:  Bringing about certain modifications in executing the activity, can not only make your moves easier, but also prevent degeneration from progressing further. Avoid those activities that put intense impact and torsion force on the joints. Apart from this, staying in one position can increase your discomfort and make your joint stiff further. Therefore, moving around to lubricate your joints is vital.
3. Load Modification: This involves all the strategies to minimize the loading force from the joint, and the first step towards this is losing excess weight. Apart from this, use of certain mechanical supports, called Orthoses, is helpful. Orthoses are biomechanically designed devices that not only support the joints, but also prevent them from experiencing undue stress by offering shock absorption. Orthoses also help in correcting deformity. Commonly used Orthoses are foot Orthoses, such as lateral wedge insoles, knees caps, etc. Use of walking aids can be offered to those with knee and hip osteoarthritis. Taping techniques can also be used to reduce joint loading.
4. Pharmacological Intervention: This includes topical agents and oral medications like NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), narcotics, glucosamine and chondroitin, steroids and viscosupplementation (injection of Hyaluronic acid into the knee joints) are commonly being used to counteract symptoms of disease.
5. Surgical Interventions: Arthroscopic debridement, abrasion arthroplasty, drilling and microfracture, mosaicplasty, autologous chondrocyte implantation, osteotomy,  resurfacing, arthrodesis, total and partial  joint replacement, etc., are the various procedures that are carried out to manage arthritis.

Pain and dependency (be it physical or financial!) are two things everybody wants to avoid even during their twilight years. Pave the way for a healthier life by not letting those twinges of pain in the initial stages to overpower you. Take timely action!