MORE FREE HELP

🙃 There are many myths when it comes to osteoarthritis which are often supported by so called 'experts' online and on this very platform!

🏃‍♂️ Running is bad for your joints is just another myth in a very long list.

📚 Evidence actually suggests that running promotes nutrition to enter your cartilage as well as removing negative metabolic substances. So running can actually improve cartilage and joint health. Dong et al (2021).

❗ At the same time if you already have a sore and painful joint it's probably not the best idea to go and run a 5k if it is something you have done before.

❗ Taking a very slow, gradual, progressive approach in order to give your joint and your body time to adapt and change would be sensible 😀

👂 Noisy joints, in particular, knees, can be pretty disconcerting, particularly if we think it's unusual.

☝️ The truth is that noisy joints are completely normal and in no way do they indicate that your joint is injured of damaged.

📚 In actual fact a 1987 study suggested that 99% of all knee joints make some sort of audible sound.

❗ It's usually the case that these noises are more disconcerting that actually painful, with a number if different hypothesis as to why they occur.

💨 The most widely accepted hypothesis at present, is that it is likely to be a build up of air pressure being released from the joint.

☝️ Most importantly, these noises have no correlation with pain, harm, injury or damage!

🤔 Being advised to exercise if you have osteoarthritis, trying to, and then realising it can be uncomfortable can be off pretty off putting.

❗ However, because we know that experiencing pain doesn't necessarily mean you are damaging your joint means that we can confidently say, it is fine and safe to move in to some degree of discomfort.

👍 Pain is quite subjective, however, the rule of thumb would be to work in to low levels of discomfort and then monitor your pain over the following 24-48 hours.

💪 If you have some mild aching or even increase in your symptoms that is manageable and settles down within 24-48 hrs then this is generally a safe level of pain to be working in to.

☝️ If your pain increases to a level that is not manageable for the following few days, this is not a sign that you've done any damage, just that you've probably overloaded your joint, a bit too much, a bit too soon!

Let things settle down and then try again but make things easier. Consider, less reps, sets, range of movement or load!

🙄 Unfortunately, flare ups are a normal part of osteoarthritis. They come and they go and trying to work out how they came of can be a huge source of frustration.

😵 But pain is complex and you'll often find that there was no physical trigger than increased you osteoarthritis symptoms at all.

😞 Psychosocial factors have a huge role to play when it comes to pain and as a result when it comes to osteoarthritic flare ups.

😟 The list is endless but things like mood, stress, thoughts, beliefs, sleep, diet, exercise , anxiety, depression and family bereavement can all cause flare ups. So it's often pretty difficult to identify exactly what increased your pain.

📍Suprisingly, neither chondroitin or glucosamine are recommended by the N.I.C.E guidelines for the treatment of osteoarthritis.⠀
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🩺 N.I.C.E are the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence and they produce up to date, evidenced based guidelines that are continually under review to ensure clinicians have guidelines to treat patients with the most up to date evidence out there.⠀
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☝️ I say suprisingly not recommended because chondroitin & glucosamine are widely used in people that have osteoarthritis with the belief that they are improving bone and joint health. According to N.I.C.E, at present, there isn't enough evidence to support this.⠀
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🦴 However, after recording a recent YouTube video with Ben Steele - Turner from @physiutrition, who is a qualified physiotherapist and nutritionist, his advice was that he feels taking chondroitin & glucosamine can have quite positive effects on symptoms anecdotally. The advice was he may not actively advise some to take these supplements if they aren't already, however, he also wouldn't advise somebody to stop taking them, if they were already and thought they were helping.⠀
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🧙 As always there's no quick fix or magic pill, always try to consider lifestyle changes like weight loss and exercise with any nutritional supplements 😀⠀
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📍There is no doubt that having an increase or spike in your symptoms if you have arthritis can be pretty scary & worrying but it can be reassuring to know that these 'flare ups' are a normal part of the condition.⠀
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👆 Generally they last for a few days or up to a couple of weeks in some cases and then settle down again, usually back down to whatever your base line level of symptoms were previously.⠀
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🤔 Pain is pretty complex and as a result it can be difficult to know what causes a flare up of your symptoms. However, things like overload or stress to the joint, poor sleep, stress, nutrition and even changes in the weather & barometric pressure, some people say can make their symptoms worse if they have O.A.⠀
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🤚One thing that people often do wrong after a flare up is try to do less activity because they are worried about their symptoms getting worse in the future. We know that this probably isn't the best approach in the long term management of arthritis.⠀
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📽️ In a recent video I discussed what you need to do in order to get back to the things you enjoy after you've had a flare which you can find on The Genuine Physio YouTube Channel!⠀

🧑‍⚕️ If you have a joint replacement then progressing to a stage that you feel confident or comfortable enough to discard your walking aids can feel like a real mile stone in your rehabilitation, and it is!⠀
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🦴 That said, as part of your rehabilitation you also need to be practising walking with a normal walking pattern as well. Trying to get your gait pattern as close to normal as possible should be a priority and crutches can facilitate this process.⠀
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☝️Commonly we see patients getting rid of their walking aids but they're still walking with a limp/altered gait pattern. Your much better off holding on ti them for a little bit longer to get your walking pattern back to normal, rather than getting rid of them too soon and be walking with a limp!⠀

🦴 Osteoarthritis is a diagnosis that's is thrown around all of the time and if it isn't given to you with an appropriate explanation of what it is and how you can manage it properly, it can often make you feel worried & concerned and that invasive interventions, like surgery, are inevitable. This is far from the case!⠀
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🏋️ There are lots of different things that we can do to improve arthritic pain that have been shown to work: things like weight loss, exercise, eating slightly better, heat, activity modification, education and advice about pain, the list goes on. Many, many people are managing their arthritic symptoms conservativly with great success without the need for surgery. ⠀
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👍There are any number of factors that can make your symptoms better or worse and as a result it can be tricky to manage at times so if you do need some additional support then make sure you find yourself a really good healthcare professional that can support you with this.⠀

🤔 It is completely normal to be a bit worried or anxious about moving your painful joint. Generally, we perceive pain to be a sign that there is something wrong, or maybe even damaged.

🦴 During an acute injury or maybe during a flare up a period of relative rest or decreased movement could be helpful. However, doing this for a prolonged period of time is NOT advisable.

💪 In order for your joint to function properly and be as healthy as possible it needs MOVEMENT & LOAD.

🤯 We know there is far more to pain that tissue damage and as a result we can confidently say that it is fine and safe to move in to tolerable levels of pain and that the pain you are getting when you move is not a sign that you are doing damage of making anything structurally worse, long term.

🧑‍⚕️ Even if you have quite high levels of pain there will be some sort of movement or exercise that you will be able to tolerate if you know how. If you do feel like you need some help or support with this, then make sure you get in touch with a healthcare professional that can help.