Osteoarthritis 101
Welcome to the new Muskoka Senior Aging Well blog. This series of articles will highlight local experts who can support your journey to live a balanced, healthy and independent life. We are beginning the series with insights from Dr. Rich Trenholm, Sports Medicine Physician, and Co-Owner of Reactivate Muskoka. Each month Dr. Trenholm will share advice and tips on how to take care of your body with a holistic approach.
Dr. Rich Trenholm in a treatment room at Reactivate Muskoka.
What is Osteoarthritis?
There are different types of arthritis. Osteoarthritis, when broken down into its parts, just means joint (“arth”) inflammation (“itis”). The “osteo” kind comes from wear and tear over time, whereas the “rheumatoid” kind comes from a person's immune system attacking the cells inside the joint. We will focus on the “osteo” kind here.
Osteoarthritis affects us all at some point. It is one of the effects of being exposed to gravity over the course of our lives, and the fact that we move around on a daily basis.
What are the Symptoms of Osteoarthritis?
The most common symptoms of osteoarthritis is stiffness, usually in the morning or after a period of rest, that eases up within an hour of moving around. Stiffness usually is worse when a joint has been aggravated the day prior by physical activities. Additionally, joints can look swollen as fluid accumulates inside the joint. Pain that usually feels like a deep ache rather than a sharp pain is also indicative of osteoarthritis.
The most commonly affected joints are the knees, hips, lower back, shoulders, wrists, and hands. In the hands the two joints closest to the ends of the fingers and the base of the thumb are most affected.
Can You Prevent Osteoarthritis?
While genetics do play a role in determining whether you develop osteoarthritis, the fact that your parents or siblings developed crippling arthritis, doesn’t mean that you will. The key is maintaining healthy, strong, and stable joints. This is achieved by keeping your joints moving with a normal amount of forces going through the joint so that the cartilage continues to make synovial fluid, which is the lubricating fluid inside your joints.
It is also important to keep your muscles balanced and relatively strong around your joints; you can build these muscles with simple exercises.
How Can You Treat Osteoarthritis?
Unfortunately, we cannot turn back time. We cannot undo what damage has been done to the knees but we can control what happens from this point forward.
Every person’s arthritis is mechanically different. Having your joints evaluated by experts in the rehabilitation field can determine how advanced your arthritis is, your treatment options, and what factors contributed to and continue to contribute to your arthritic progression. The more we can control those variables and factors that are leading to your arthritis, the more we can slow the progression of your arthritis.
In the upcoming blog posts, I will review in more detail your best options for preventing, treating, and managing osteoarthritis. We also have a ZOOM session coming up and you will have the opportunity to ask me questions directly!
Dr. Rich Trenholm, Co-Owner of Reactivate Muskoka