4 Tips for Living With Osteoarthritis

At first, the achiness in your joints would come and go — if you did a lot of running around one day, you might wake the next with sore and stiff knees or hips. These days, however, your achy joints have become a more constant companion, and you aren’t loving the limitations it’s placing on your life, not to mention the pain itself.

If this sounds familiar, you’re in a large boat with millions of other Americans — osteoarthritis (OA) affects about 33 million people in the United States, and this number is growing larger every year.

Since May is National Arthritis Awareness Month, the team at Bethel Family Medicine, under the expert direction of Dr. Douglas R. Grogan and Dr. Jennifer Hall DiFalco, wants to address some great strategies to help you move more freely despite your OA. Let’s take a look.

A quick word about osteoarthritis

There are more than 100 different types of arthritis, and OA is, by far, the most common. At its core, OA is a degenerative disease that’s often referred to as wear-and-tear arthritis, which is why it becomes more prevalent with age.

When you have OA, the protective cartilage in your joints begins to wear down, leaving your bones to rub together. This friction between your bones leads to pain and inflammation, which is worsened by loose bodies in your joint, made up of cartilage and bone fragments.

Unfortunately, like all other forms of arthritis, there’s no cure for OA. This fact, however, doesn’t mean that you’re without options. Quite the contrary, in fact, as there’s a lot that we can do to slow the progression of the disease and help you regain pain-free movement.

Best practices for managing osteoarthritis

Now let’s look at some of the key steps to take when you’re dealing with achy and stiff joints due to OA:

1. Make sure your OA toolkit is in order

Several treatment options can help manage the symptoms of OA, which really come down to pain and inflammation, such as:

• Over-the-counter medications, such as aspirin and ibuprofen
• Prescription anti-inflammatory medications
• Corticosteroid injections
• Regenerative medicine treatments
• Medical acupuncture
• Massage therapy

We’re happy to sit down with you to evaluate your OA, your health, and your lifestyle to determine which therapies belong in your OA toolkit.

2. Exercise and strengthening

Once we get your symptoms under control, it’s time to take more sustainable steps to improve your joint function. At the top of this list are exercise and strengthening.

Joints are designed to move and work best when they do. Not only does movement alleviate inflammation and stiffness, but it also helps to get the blood flowing to your joints.

It’s just as important to strengthen the muscles that surround your joints. For example, if you focus on strengthening your quads, hamstrings, and calf muscles, you can alleviate pressure on the bones in your knees.

3. Manage your weight

One risk factor for OA is carrying too many pounds. Your musculoskeletal system is designed for a certain amount of weight, and when you exceed that, it can lead to premature joint breakdown.

So, if you’re overweight or you have obesity, let’s work on shedding these excess pounds, which we can do through our medical weight loss services. 

4. Use support

Another great way to manage OA is to provide a little extra support for your arthritic joints with:

• Braces
• Taping
• Custom shoe inserts
• Walking aids

These external supports can go a long way toward helping you move with more confidence.

As you can see, we can do plenty to keep you on your feet and moving freely despite your OA diagnosis.

For a more detailed and personalized OA management plan, please schedule an appointment at our Brockton, Massachusetts, office today.