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When wear and tear starts to hurt
As you get older your body can start to show signs of what even the medical profession sometimes refer to as ‘wear and tear’. However, a more likely diagnosis is likely to be osteoarthritis.
This is a degenerative joint disease caused by the thinning and damage of cartilage usually due to gradual wear and tear, injury or overuse. Predominantly it affects weight bearing joints like the hip and knee and is more common as we age, but occurs in the younger people with a physically demanding job or lifestyle.
Osteoarthritis should not be confused with rheumatoid arthritis (or rheumatism), where the tissue around the joint is inflamed resulting in noticeable swelling, restricting movement. This can afflict any age group.
Articular cartilage is a tough, flexible tissue which covers the end of the bones and acts as a shock absorber allowing the bones making up the joint to glide over one another. Without the cartilage cushion, bone rubs on bone causing the affected joint to react. The symptoms can include:
- The gradual onset of pain – felt either when joint is kept immobile (e.g. driving, sitting and night pain), or when weight bearing (e.g. walking and climbing stairs).
- Stiffness – normally felt worse in the morning.
- Swelling and tenderness after physical activity.
- Change in movement patterns (e.g. abnormal gait or limp).
- Referred pain (e.g. people present with tenderness or reduced mobility in another region of their body due to compensatory movement or muscle imbalance).
- Reduced stability as a result of atrophy and weakening of muscles around the joint.
- Inactivity to avoid pain can result in worsening physical symptoms and decrease in overall mental health and overall wellbeing.
How can physical therapy and myofascial release help?
When the cartilage has been worn down it cannot be regenerated and there comes a time when surgery and joint replacement is the only option. However, until then, manual therapy may help to relieve some of the symptoms.
Myofascial Release is a style of hands-on therapy that involves sustained pressure on selected areas of the body to break up tight fascia that inhibits movement of muscles and joints. A treatment plan including myofascial release can be effective in managing the symptoms of osteoarthritis by:
- Reducing tension and softening adhesions around a joint giving bones some space to move reducing the friction that causes pain and inflammation
- Treating myofascial trigger points also reduces pain and stiffness
- Positional Release – a precise manipulation technique to treat muscle spasm and pain in the ligaments, tendons and joints to achieve the most optimal level of comfort possible
- Gentle passive stretching to increase the range of pain free movement within capability
- The increased flexibility of the fascia allows for strengthening of surrounding muscles, which supports the join better
- A continued course of treatments to address any postural habits developed due to compensation patterns will slow down further degeneration
- Advice on nutritional supplementation to support long term bone and joint health.
So if you’ve got that ‘getting older is painful’ feeling, this is a non-surgical approach that will give you an improved range of movement without the associated pain. Taking action sooner rather than later often prevents things getting to the point where surgery is the only option.
For more information call 07775 633798