Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting nearly 30 million nationwide.

Are you experiencing pain in your groin or stiffness in your back? Do you find it painful to go up and down stairs? Are these symptoms making it difficult for you to go about your daily routine? You could be suffering from osteoarthritis.

OA is a degenerative joint disease often described as “wear and tear” arthritis. Repetitive movement and prior injuries also contribute to the condition.

Early on, the condition most commonly is associated with stiffness and ache after prolonged rest and inactivity. As the condition advances, inflammation leads to pain and loss of motion in the joints. While arthritis can be debilitating, there’s a lot that you can do to alleviate the pain and improve your function, joint movement, muscle strength, balance, and coordination. It’s even possible to eliminate symptoms, depending on the amount of arthritis you have.

What Is Arthritis?

Osteoarthritis is also known as degenerative joint disease. The main characteristic is the loss of articular cartilage and joint disability. It is known as the “wear and tear” form of arthritis. The breakdown of the cartilage affects the whole joint, causing inflammation, bone/joint structural changes, and bone spur formation.

Primary osteoarthritis has no known cause, but almost 30–65% is thought to be genetically determined. Secondary osteoarthritis mainly comes from traumatic events. Despite the differences in the causes, the two types of osteoarthritis progress in similar directions, ultimately resulting in the loss and destruction of articular cartilage.

Typical symptoms include pain, muscle weakness, joint instability, brief morning stiffness, crepitus (i.e., noises like snaps and pops), and physical inactivity.

What Causes Osteoarthritis?

There is increasing evidence that different risk factors are associated with osteoarthritis, including:

Obesity
Genetic predispositions
Sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., female gender, African-
American race)
Specific bone/joint shapes

There are also physical risk factors associated with increased osteoarthritis including:

Joint injury
Participation in certain occupational activities (i.e., repetitive
movements like bending or prolonged positions like sitting/driving)
Participation in sports (i.e. contact sports)
Thigh flexor muscle weakness and knee osteoarthritis
Joint malalignment

Arthritis and Obesity

Although aging is one of the most significant risk factors for osteoarthritis, obesity is also a major contributor to developing osteoarthritis. Obese patients have extra weight on their bodies that add to cartilage breakdown. Recent research suggests that unhealthy diets are associated with systemic inflammation. This inflammation is responsible for a 2.5-times higher likelihood of experiencing knee pain than patients with healthy weight and diets and similar cartilage damage. However, this cycle can be broken by improving joint movement, muscle strength, balance, and coordination, reducing pain and inflammation.

How Physical Therapy Can Help Arthritis

Your physical therapist will assess your particular condition to identify the contributing factors and address all of them. Regardless of the cause of arthritis, physical therapy plays a significant role in treating arthritis symptoms and should be the first step. Your therapist can educate you on how regular physical activity and individualized exercise programs can reduce your pain, prevent the condition from worsening, and improve daily function.

Physical therapists can also help you choose healthier lifestyles for losing weight if you are overweight or obese. In addition, your PT can guide you on ways to maintain a healthy weight using diet changes and exercise. In many cases, physical therapy can help patients by choosing specific exercises and designing appropriate strengthening exercises that improve your function without aggravating your pain. Your therapist can help you reclaim a healthy lifestyle. From start to finish, we’re dedicated to your ongoing well-being. On every level, physical therapy serves to enhance the patient’s quality of life.

Read the FYZICAL Newsletter on Osteoarthritis

Physical Therapy Can Help

Call FYZICAL today to make an appointment. With guidance from your physical therapist, you can find solutions to your pain and get back to living the life you enjoy!

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