Arthritis
Arthritis
People living with arthritis can often feel that exercise makes things worse and can sometimes shy away from activities. with regular targeted exercise this keeps the muscles around the affected joints stronger which can help decrease joint swelling and pain. There is no exact science about the amount of exercise that you should do depending on your condition and severity of your arthritis. Many people find activity to help control pain and give them more freedom to perform every day activities. When dealing with people suffering with arthritis it is finding the exercise that is most beneficial to the individual and provide alternative exercises to keep the joints strong and healthy.
How do we assess
The first part is the listen to your story we take an in-depth injury history as well as understanding the mechanism of the current problem. We look for patterns in your story to make the best possible picture. We then look at your range of movement before moving into any muscular testing. We will assess the site of pain as well as areas above and below to ensure we have full information to move forwards.
How do we treat
Treatment can comprise of both hands on and exercise based activities. Hands on work will look to relieve muscle tension through soft tissue work while exercise will follow a four-step progression.
- Restore full range of movement
- Start loading the muscles isometrically
- Increase strength in a single plane of movement
- Strength exercises in multiple planes of movements
