I can not tell you how many patients that find us and they are told they have arthritis and are not sure that anything can be done about that. It is a word that is all about fear because the patient feels their is nothing they can do about it besides taking medications, getting injections or having surgery.
It is not true. It goes to my last blog post about being over tested and over treated. Let me give you an example of my last few patients that were told they have arthritis, but are and will get back to functioning and doing the things they love and things they never thought they would get back to without taking medications, having to have surgery or avoid the activities they want to get back to doing.
Patient Example 1
My first example is a women in her 50’s she wanted to get back to being active and play with her grand kids.
She had played sports most of her life and was told that she has arthritis in her knees and will have to have surgery at some point. She did not believe that was the case and found my office.
We spoke on the phone and I agreed her pain was probably not coming from arthritis. After ruling out her back, hip and knee joints, we found a lot of tightness in her muscles around her knee.
This gave her relief on the first treatment. She was so excited. She still could not workout the way she wanted, so as we gradually built up her strength and functional strength she is back to running and I even got a message from her that she played beach volleyball without any knee braces. Her knees felt great.
Patient Example 2
My other example is more recent. I had a 19 year told that she has thumb arthritis.
Really at 19?? That is really unusual. She was told this by a orthopedic hand specialist. Who then sent her to a rheumatologist (really??).
She saw this doctor 3 times, was give medications for a diagnosis I am not sure they specially found because all her testing came back normal. On her 3rd visit they were leading her questions in the direction of depression (really???).
My first visit with this patient could tell she is a happy go lucky child. This doctor then pushed on her muscles and said she has fibromyalgia. (Really??) for thumb pain that hurts when she does specific activities?
They wanted to give her medications for Fibromyalgia, which is when they called my office. No one ever thought to think that maybe at 19 this pain could be coming from tendonitis. Which is what is her condition presented as. It was caused by the way she was writing and she was in graphic design. We adjusted how she held her pin and addressed her root cause of the problem and with each visit she is getting better.
If you get a diagnosis of ARTHRITIS and you want a second opinion by some who helps people avoid medications, surgery or injections- please call our office or you can speak to a physical therapist so we can learn more and give you some advice by fill this form out – CLICKING HERE
At mPower Physical Therapy in Dallas, we want to be a resource for you and help you navigate your health concerns and successes with you.
