The doctor of the future will give no medicine, - Thomas Edison
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 Arthritis appears to be the most commonly used word to describe the aging body. Why? It’s a NORMAL process of aging (no wonder everyone seems to have it on their images – X-ray/MRIs) but having arthritis is not the CAUSE of PAIN! Just like the wrinkles you see on your face and hands, there is normal wear and tear in your joints, too. Arthritis has other names too such as: Degenerative Joint Disease, Degenerative Arthritis, and Osteoarthritis. Actually, there are numerous studies that took MRIs on thousands of people of each age group (20s-80s) of their spine, knees and hips that showed moderate to advanced stages of arthritis but these participants did NOT experience pain... Interesting, huh? So, basically, we cannot conclude that your pain is actually due to the arthritis. How do we figure it out then? Well, that’s where a good physical therapist comes into the picture. We listen to your history, analyze movement of the entire body, and can determine what muscles are weak or what joints need more movement to help alleviate your pain, naturally. We can determine if your pain is from arthritis or a referral pain (source of pain somewhere else in the body). So, before you go buy another bottle of that Tylenol/Advil/Aleve to relieve it, consider seeing a physical therapist that can properly evaluate your body and tailor an exercise program for you to combat your aches and pains. Still wondering if it’s arthritis that’s affecting the way you move? Well, there are some criteria that have been suggested that help rule in this condition – if you have: pain in the joint, stiffness >30 minutes that goes away after moving around, crepitus (joint noise with movement), bony enlargement, or are >50 years old. Meanwhile, please take a look at these fascinating photos of our muscular system that helps support our bones and joints. The strength, flexibility, and coordination of this amazing musculoskeletal system is what keeps our joints healthy and strong!   But really, ALL these muscles work TOGETHER and depend on each other to be strong and mobile! The stronger they are, the more pressure is taken off our joints. Doing functional exercises like squats and deadlifts help make this entire system work well together.
However, sometimes people need specific muscle strengthening or mobility exercises first before these movements can be tolerated. Ask a good physical therapist that will take time to listen to you and evaluate you thoroughly so you can get an individualized program and get moving better again! Thank you for reading! Dr. Adrienne
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Hello everyone,
I wanted to take the time to discuss the matter of your exercise/stretching regimen. A lot of my patients come in to see me regarding their pain and tell me that they have an exercise or stretching routine - fantastic!.....BUT here's the thing: My job is to help you feel better and to keep you that way. To do that, I assess your movement and together we figure out what movement consistently causes you your pain. This is our "test". Then, I help you regain that mobility (or strength; depends on what you need) through an exercise or manual therapy and then we reassess with our "test" movement. If you perform the "test" again and it no longer hurts, AWESOME! We are one step closer to pain-free movement. Next, my job is to give you a home exercise to allow you to INDEPENDENTLY maintain that mobility so you don't reproduce that pain anymore. So, to summarize, I did 3 main things- ASSESS - TREAT - REASSESS: 1) I evaluated you and ASSESSED a movement that reproduced your pain (i.e. ouch, it hurts to bend to the right!) 2) We found motion or specific exercise that felt good or was therapeutic 3) We REASSESS step 1 (did step 2 make it better? worse? Or the same?) Based on how you feel after step 3, you either have a green light to do that exercise at home because it helped you move with less or no pain. Or, you just found an exercise that made it worse and you don't want to do that again! I challenge you to do this. Your exercise/stretch is a form of your own treatment. I love when my patients find exercises to help, however, if you are doing an entire exercise regimen outside of my care, we really don't know if that is hindering your recovery. I will be more than happy to help you modify some of your exercises, too! Have a wonderful day! Dr. Adrienne |
AuthorDr. Adrienne - physical therapist, lifelong learner, and exercise enthusiast! Categories |
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