With Melbourne well and truly in the grips of winter, we often notice at this time of year that a lot of our patients with joint conditions such as Osteoarthritis (OA) tend to become more achy and require a little bit more TLC. Whilst research on why this occurs is inconclusive, understanding what osteoarthritis is and some of the ways you can self-manage the condition at home certainly help with extra aches.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative form of arthritis in which the cartilage between our joint surfaces starts to wear down. It most commonly affects people over 50 years of age. There is limited knowledge of why some people suffer from it, however factors that are thought to have an affect are;
– Increased weight
– History of high impact or excessive physical activity
– Genetic predisposition

The cartilage between our joint surfaces is designed to assist our joints to move smoothly, so as cartilage begins to wear down our body will cleverly lay down new bone at the joint surfaces to withstand the new stress of lack of cartilage. This can sometimes have an affect on the underlying bony surface of our joints and the way that all the muscles around the affected joint work. It is important to note that a certain amount of joint wear can also be a part of our normal ageing process and in many people is not something that affects our daily living.

OA can commonly present with the following symptoms;
– Gradual onset of joint pain or stiffness in a single joint over time usually in persons over 50.
– Will normally affect joints such as knees, backs, hips, hands and feet
– Pain or stiffness are often worse first thing in the morning or after periods of inactivity but will ease within 30mins of getting moving.
– Pain or stiffness can sometimes be worse for too much physical activity
– Pain will sometimes ease with manual treatment, consistent gentle exercise and analgesics such as Panadol.

Osteopaths are trained to perform a thorough physical assessment relating to your joint pain that together with the medical history that we take can often assist us in diagnosing OA. Joints that suffer from OA will often have a stiff feel to touch that Osteopaths become skilled at picking up during our examination. If however, we are unsure of your diagnosis we will often send you to have imaging most often in the form of an x-ray or MRI to determine the extent of the joint wear and any other surrounding tissue damage.

Its very important that following your imaging that you sit down with either your GP or referring allied health professional to discuss the results. Imaging reports are written with medical terminology that can be quite daunting & often appear worse than they are. It is interesting to note that the proportion of wear or abnormality that we see in images often does not correlate with pain or dysfunction levels. There are also lots of things that can appear on images that are completely normal signs of ageing that are nothing to worry about.

Due to our longer appointment times, Osteopaths have the time to explain your imaging to you so if you have had imaging for joint pain performed & need a debrief we are here to help! If you have been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis and would like to discuss this further with an Osteopath and see how we can help you, please call the clinic on 5977-0466, or make an appointment online today.