Physiotherapy Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is one of the biggest burdens on Australians as it gets tagged as the disease for $23 billion worth of healthcare spending per year. So what is it and how do we treat it?

By definition, it is a joint change. It’s something we all can look forward to in some form or another in our lives as we age and our joints adapt and alter through the ageing process. There is a strong link between osteoarthritis and pain but it’s not always as direct as you may think. There are many of us walking around pain-free on joints that when scanned show up significant osteoarthritis changes, and many more suffering from chronic pain and disability with joints that show much less degeneration under a scan.

Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Our physiotherapy team in Pascoe Vale are specialists in taking those in pain related to their osteoarthritis, to living healthy and active lives. We use a combination of evidence-based, tried and true therapies that include:

  • Load optimisation – this involves loading our joints just enough to allow quality function
  • Strengthening – the muscles that move and stabilise our joints can often be trained to increase their capacity to tolerate load
  • Manual therapy – hands-on manipulation or massage can positively influence symptoms to provide relief and allow further therapy
  • Education – there’s strong evidence that learning about our individual pain and it’s triggers and making informed decisions around our physical and mental health reduced pain and associated disability
  • Supplements - there is a small but increasing body of evidence for some supplement usage in treating osteoarthritis including turmeric
osteoarthritis
osteoarthritis treatment

Osteoarthritis Solution

Working with your treating team to include input from EPsPodiatrists, GPs and Surgeons is a strong focus of our physiotherapy consultations.

If you or a loved one are suffering from osteoarthritis pain, book in with our expert physios in Pascoe Vale for your assessment and treatment plan.

Book an appointment with our PridePlus Physios.