Three non-pharmacological osteoarthritis treatments for you

Non-pharmacological. Whew! That’s quite a mouthful of a word, but its meaning is actually pretty simple. What it means is any treatment for a medical condition that doesn’t involve medication. Non-pharmacological treatments can be very effective for some medical conditions. One such condition is osteoarthritis. If you have been diagnosed with this, there are three non-pharmacological treatments for osteoarthritis that you may want to try.  

1.   Losing some weight

Every person’s bones and joints are designed to support the weight of their body. However, one Beaumont Health article reports that 69% of adults over 20 are overweight. One issue this leads to is more stress on your joints. The best way to reduce this additional stress is to take a non-pharmacological treatment approach for your arthritis and find ways to make healthier dietary choices. For instance, you might consider adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet and eating less pasta, bread and other high-carb foods. In turn, making healthier dietary choices can help you lose weight, reduce joint stress and help reduce osteoarthritis pain. 

2.   Increase your daily movement

Another non-pharmacological osteoarthritis treatment option is to increase your daily movement. Exercise is possibly one of the most misunderstood factors in osteoarthritis treatment. In fact, many people may believe exercising actually causes osteoarthritis to worsen. However, the reality is slightly different. 

It’s true that high-impact exercises like running and jumping can lead to more joint pain, but low-impact exercises can be very helpful for osteoarthritis patients. Walking is low impact for people with knee arthritis. The movements involved in this exercise can help lubricate the joint. They can also help build the strength of the muscles around the knee. These strengthened muscles can then provide better support for the joint and increase its stability. 

3.   Working with a physical therapist

Physical therapy is a third non-pharmacological osteoarthritis treatment that can benefit you. The therapy experts at Advent Physical Therapy have a lot of experience helping people treat the symptoms of osteoarthritis, and we can build you an individualized treatment plan for your needs. Since we use multiple therapy techniques, our plans are more likely to provide you with benefits, and some of the benefits people can get from our plans include: 

• Reduced pain
• Improved joint range of motion
• Increased joint stability
• Increased ability to perform normal daily tasks

Don’t keep relying on medication alone to treat your osteoarthritis symptoms. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.