Staying Active with Arthritis: 6 Key Benefits of Physical Therapy

You don't always want to get up and work out when you're living with arthritis. The disease affects your joints and motivation, although staying active can help you control your symptoms.

Physical therapy offers several incredible benefits to your mind and body.

Our team of orthopedic specialists at Peninsula Orthopedic Associates understands that staying physically active is important to controlling arthritis. They team up with physical therapists to offer a treatment plan that tames your pain and improves your mobility.

May is Arthritis Awareness Month, a great time to go over what you should know about physical therapy’s importance to arthritis sufferers.

Why staying active with arthritis is key

Arthritis is a chronic condition that affects the joints throughout your body. It often causes damage to the protective tissues within your joint, leading to pain and inflammation.

When you're living with arthritis, your joints can be stiff and painful in the morning or throughout the day, especially if you're not moving around. Staying physically active is crucial to controlling the uncomfortable symptoms associated with arthritis.

Sitting around actually makes arthritis worse. Your joints need movement to increase the blood flow that is essential to limiting inflammation and pain. Staying active is also good for your mental health, which can suffer when you have arthritis.

It's important to understand that you need to make some modifications when exercising with arthritis.

For instance, you need to focus on low-impact activities like walking, biking, and swimming to keep excess stress off your joints. A physical therapist helps you understand how to exercise with arthritis.

Benefits of physical therapy for arthritis

Living with arthritis isn't easy, but it's possible to maintain a productive lifestyle with conservative treatments and regular physical activity. When you're first diagnosed with arthritis, physical therapy is an essential component of your treatment.

There are various benefits to early use of physical therapy to help you stay active. The list includes:

1. Building strength

Untreated osteoarthritis leads to weakness in the muscles around the affected joint. Exercise and physical therapy allow you to build strength in other areas of your body to overcome your symptoms and improve your mobility.

2. Improving joint mobility

Range of motion and mobility in your joints aren't great when you have arthritis. Physical therapy and regular physical activity help you regain motion within your joint by improving flexibility and decreasing pain and stiffness.

3. Reducing pain

Sitting around with arthritis indeed increases your pain. Physical therapy teaches you what exercises help your joints stay mobile to decrease pain over time.

4. Decreasing stiffness

Stiffness is one of the main symptoms of osteoarthritis, making it difficult to walk or climb stairs. However, regular physical therapy helps you overcome stiffness and enjoy everyday activities.

5. Improving balance

Stiffness and pain make it hard to maintain balance when you’re dealing with arthritis. Physical therapy targets the muscles and ligaments around the arthritic joint to give you stabilization and make it easier for you to keep your balance during activities.

6. Supporting overall fitness

Physical therapy is a commitment to improving your body and your joints. As you get further into your physical therapy program, you increase strength, build endurance, and improve flexibility, allowing you to improve your fitness.

If you're living with arthritis and want to begin physical therapy, don't hesitate to call our office in Daly City, California, today for a consultation or book an appointment online.