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Consider that a full quarter of the adult population in the United States has some form of doctor-diagnosed arthritis, and you realize just how widespread a problem joint pain is in our country. While there are many types of arthritis, most who have the condition all want the same thing — relief from the pain and stiffness.
As orthopaedic specialists, our team at Western Orthopaedics understands the impact that arthritis can have on your life, preventing you from moving freely and without pain. As joint specialists, we can do our part by offering effective solutions that range from physical therapy to joint replacement.
Here, we take a look at four treatments that can go a long way toward effectively treating arthritis.
Your joints are designed to move, but arthritis can place significant limitations on your ability (or your desire) to move.
Nonetheless, one of the best treatments for most forms of arthritis is to get your joints moving again through physical therapy, which accomplishes several objectives, including:
These goals are important for preserving the use of your arthritic joints, and our physical therapy is tailored to your unique needs and goals.
If your arthritis pain is moderate to severe, you may want to consider a corticosteroid injection. These injections can provide you with a reprieve from your arthritis pain long enough to pursue more long-term solutions, such as the aforementioned physical therapy.
Joint injections typically contain a mixture of a local analgesic for the pain and a steroid for the inflammation.
While degenerative or inflammatory types of arthritis, namely osteoarthritis, are the most common forms of joint disease, arthritis can stem from autoimmune disorders or infections.
In these cases, we advise you to follow the suggestions of your rheumatologist, which may include disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, which can be particularly effective for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
If your arthritis advances to the point where your joint has become far too painful and stiff to use properly, joint replacement offers a great option. At our practice, we routinely perform joint replacements, which include hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, and ankles.
With a joint replacement, we remove the damaged components of your joint and replace them with strong metal and/or ceramic parts that can restore pain-free function to the joint.
As you can see, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for arthritis, but we want to emphasize that there are options that can help minimize, if not resolve completely, the symptoms that come with the condition.
If you’d like to learn more about your treatment options for arthritis and which one might be best for you, please contact one of our two offices in Denver or Arvada, Colorado, to set up an appointment.
