Arthritis Pain Services: An Overview

If your arthritis pain isn’t responding to home treatments, you may need specialized treatment. These services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, medication, and surgery.

Acupuncture and acupressure are traditional Chinese medicine techniques that stimulate different pressure points in your body to relieve pain. They can be effective, but you should talk with your doctor to determine whether they’re right.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is a non-invasive method of treating arthritis pain. It can help you regain strength and flexibility and prevent further damage to the affected joint.

Your therapist will evaluate your posture, muscle imbalances, and body mechanics to ensure you use your joints correctly. They’ll also teach you exercises to strengthen the muscles around your joints, which can reduce stress on them and improve function.

Physiotherapists use a variety of arthritis pain services Jersey City NJ, including exercise, massage, hot packs, and ice. They’ll also teach you how to safely and effectively use assistive devices like canes or walkers.

Most people with arthritis find their symptoms improve after a few physical therapy sessions. But it’s important to talk to your therapist about what you need and how often you must come for treatment.

Occupational Therapy

An occupational therapist (OT) can help you manage your arthritis pain by improving your ability to complete everyday tasks. They will show you how to protect your joints, use more significant joint positions, and retrain your muscles to move without putting pressure on the joints that ache.

They can also suggest assistive devices that make it easier to do what you need at home or work, such as jar openers, reachers, long-handled shoehorns, etc.

OT treatment plans are highly individualized to fit each person’s needs and goals. 

Counseling

Arthritis pain is a common issue, especially for those with joint disease. Moving and functioning at work, school, or home can be difficult.

Many people turn to antirheumatic medicines, steroid injections, and joint replacement surgery to help relieve their arthritis pain. But natural treatments can also reduce pain and improve your overall health.

One of these treatments is counseling. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you manage your arthritis pain by teaching you how to change negative thoughts and behaviors that cause chronic pain. It can also help you learn to manage your overall stress level, which is linked to increased arthritis pain.

Medication

Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications can help you cope with arthritis discomfort. Standard options include acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

NSAIDs block prostaglandins, chemicals that reduce inflammation and pain. They can also thin your blood and increase your chances of bleeding.

Another type of medication, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), can slow down joint damage and relieve symptoms. These drugs include methotrexate, sulfasalazine, leflunomide, etanercept, infliximab, and abatacept. However, they may take several weeks to work.

Surgery

Surgery can be helpful when conservative treatments are not enough to reduce joint pain and improve function. You can decide whether surgery is appropriate for you with the assistance of a specialist who specializes in your particular kind of arthritis.

Surgeons may use arthroscopy, which uses small incisions and a camera to repair damaged cartilage, ligaments, or tendons. This procedure can decrease pain, improve range of motion and prevent further damage to the joint.

Surgeons can also remove diseased synovium – the tissue that lines joints. This procedure can halt the damage of inflammatory arthritis and delay the need for a joint replacement. However, the synovium can grow back over time.