Does Physical Therapy Help Arthritis in the Back?

Arthritis in the back is a real pain in the neck. Pun intended. Figuring out how to go about your daily life with the level of pain that spinal arthritis causes is a difficult process. You might be asking, “Does physical therapy help arthritis in the back?”

The answer is yes! Physical therapy teaches you how to move with your pain. It also provides you with exercises that help to relieve your pain and reduce the frequency and intensity of the symptoms of your arthritis.

Once you start going, you will realize that it is hard work at first, but it will get easier the more you go. The pain will become more manageable, and you’ll have more ways to treat it.

The main benefit of going to physical therapy for back arthritis is strengthening your muscles. If your muscles become stronger, they will help you move even when you’re having a flare-up. The muscles that would need to be strengthened the most are your core muscles, including your back muscles, and your hip muscles. However, it never hurts to strengthen all your muscles so that they can all support you when you need it most.

Another way physical therapy treats back arthritis is by addressing any compensations to movement that are occurring. This means that if someone is moving in weird ways to make one injury hurt less, they end up hurting somewhere else, and physical therapy helps stop these negative changes. For example, patients with back arthritis often have knee arthritis as well. They stop bending their knees to help with the knee pain, causing them to bend their back more, which can cause pain in the back. Physical therapy would help them to bend their knees again and stop bending their back so much, relieving pain in both the knees and the back.

Perhaps the best way physical therapy can help with back arthritis is addressing any fear of movement that someone has developed. When you start having pain, you start to fear the movements that cause the most pain. This fear is severely limiting you and your recovery. Physical therapists are there to help you move past the fear and get back to all the movements that used to scare you and cause you pain.

Physical therapy also addresses any nerve sensitivity or irritation that can be causing back pain.

There really is no downside to seeing a physical therapist for your arthritis. Time and time again, research proves that one of the best treatments for arthritis is movement, and physical therapists are there to help you move better.

If you would like to see one of our physical therapists for your back arthritis, give us a call or make an appointment online.