Osteoarthritis
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(Corner of 45th St),
Suite 525, New York, NY
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Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that breaks down cartilage – the natural cushion inside your joints. The result is painful inflammation. If you have osteoarthritis – the most common type of arthritis – you have plenty of company. About 30 million Americans have the condition.
Everyone experiences joint wear and tear, but not everyone develops the painful symptoms of osteoarthritis. Follow a few basic tips from physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians and you can increase your odds of keeping your joints pain free.
Joint self-repair
Catch the condition when joint pain first begins and you might be able to halt the progression of osteoarthritis. The right treatment plan can boost your body's natural self-repair process.
This is how it works: When you take a step, your moving body puts pressure on your joints, especially the knees and hips. Most of the impact, which is equal to about three or four times your body weight, is absorbed by joint cartilage. Movement first compresses and then releases the joint, squeezing water and nutrient rich fluids in and out of the cartilage. This fluid exchange, which keeps joints lubricated and resilient, also promotes self-repair.
Enjoying the benefits that allows your joints to become lubricated also helps lessen pain. Exercise also improves joint health by helping you shed excess weight and strengthening muscles.
But if you have joint pain, exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing. A physical medicine and rehabilitation physician can help.
A physical medicine and rehabilitation physician is a medical doctor who treats conditions that can cause pain or limit function. Also called physiatrists, they provide a full spectrum of non-surgical care to restore maximum health and quality of life.
To help you overcome arthritis, such physicians:
Everyone experiences joint wear and tear, but not everyone develops the painful symptoms of osteoarthritis. Follow a few basic tips from physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians and you can increase your odds of keeping your joints pain free.
Joint self-repair
Catch the condition when joint pain first begins and you might be able to halt the progression of osteoarthritis. The right treatment plan can boost your body's natural self-repair process.
This is how it works: When you take a step, your moving body puts pressure on your joints, especially the knees and hips. Most of the impact, which is equal to about three or four times your body weight, is absorbed by joint cartilage. Movement first compresses and then releases the joint, squeezing water and nutrient rich fluids in and out of the cartilage. This fluid exchange, which keeps joints lubricated and resilient, also promotes self-repair.
Enjoying the benefits that allows your joints to become lubricated also helps lessen pain. Exercise also improves joint health by helping you shed excess weight and strengthening muscles.
But if you have joint pain, exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing. A physical medicine and rehabilitation physician can help.
A physical medicine and rehabilitation physician is a medical doctor who treats conditions that can cause pain or limit function. Also called physiatrists, they provide a full spectrum of non-surgical care to restore maximum health and quality of life.
To help you overcome arthritis, such physicians:
- Are uniquely qualified to prescribe therapeutic exercise, they are trained in exercise physiology, ergonomics and the latest research-based treatments.
- Help patients modify their activities to minimize pain and maximize their ability to do things they want and need to do.
- Work with a team of health professionals to provide an individualized treatment plan and the tools that enable patients to take control of their health.
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians can provide a multi-faceted treatment approach to osteoarthritis that might include:
- Weight management. Excess weight can accelerate joint deterioration. Physicians can help you identify safe and effective ways to achieve your healthiest weight.
- Therapeutic exercise: Prescribed exercises focus on strengthening, stretching and range-of-motion exercises to help your joints work more easily and efficiently.
- Stay lean: Sometimes just loosing weight relieves the pain.
- Stay active: Physically fit people suffer less arthritis pain than people who are not active.
- Stay strong: Strong muscles help take the weight load off your joints, limiting cartilage damage. A strong core - abdominal and back muscles - keeps your body stable and balanced.
- Stay informed: See a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician to learn about the latest advances in nonsurgical treatment options, pain medications and medically supervised exercise programs.