My professional bias related to exercise for osteoarthritic (OA) conditions throughout the body is unavoidable. HOWEVER, I have a link below to data from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) to support my point. My professional experience has proven to me that skilled, supervised physical therapy is able to help many individuals with OA improve their function or activity level. For those with OA who truly put for the effort, many will walk away feeling less pain and report increased physical function. If you do not put in the work, do not expect results. The worst part is, many individuals are not recommended or even seek treatment until much later in the disease. At that point in the continuum, improvement is slower to happen.
Why is this???
The general medical establishment does not recognize or care about the early stages of this condition. Again, why? The cynic in me says because they cannot make much money off treating the early stages…just office visits and medications, not expensive surgeries. The reality is many healthcare providers just do not think about it and/or patients do not admit to issues or ask for options to treat until their function becomes more severely impaired. The shame is these arthritic conditions are more easily treated when the patient deficits are fewer. There is potential to stave off painful, expensive joint replacements, but you must be proactive.
The onus is on the individual to actively seek care by a physical therapist to learn how to manage and attempt to defeat this growing epidemic. Data shows patients are more likely to follow a program designed specifically for them, and achieve greater functional gains compared to when they participate in a group exercise class or complete a program on their own. If improved function was as simple as just exercising on your own, would not fewer people be dealing with significant functional loss as a result of OA?
So, if you wish to be a joint replacement statistic, ignore my words and continue losing function and battling pain. If you wish to live a more active lifestyle, then please come visit me or another physical therapist to assist you in your fight against OA