Get Back to Activity with Osteoarthritis! 

Kins can…

Help develop a program to build your muscle strength to better manage your arthritis and even help prepare your muscles for surgery.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition that impacts over 4 million Canadians. It is the most common form of arthritis. OA is a condition that impacts the health of our joints and most commonly impacts the shoulders, hips, knees and spine. The joint deteriorates and as a result the cartilage (cushion in the joint) wears down, leaving less space in the joint, the bone around the joint begins to deteriorate causing bone spurs and weakens the area around the joint. When the OA progresses to a severe level and is impacting your life immensely, joint replacement surgery for shoulders, hips or knees is often recommended. 

What can you do to help manage the pain of OA or prevent the need for surgery? 

The research on the subject points to exercise.  As Kinesiologists, we are trained to understand diseases of the bones, muscles and joints and how to develop activity to build strength while managing the pain. How does activity or strengthening muscles help?

Let’s use the analogy of a rusty door hinge. For example, let’s say that the door hinge is your knee joint. It’s rusty, squeaky and does not open or close smoothly. Now imagine adding strong, well-placed support cables or brackets around that door. The hinge is still worn, but the extra support takes some of the load off, keeps the door moving in a controlled way, and prevents it from wobbling or grinding as much.

Strengthening your muscles around that knee joint will provide support like cables holding up the hinge. The muscles guide and stabilize the joint reducing the stress on the hinge because some of the stress is being shared by the cables (muscles). Staying strong can help reduce risk of further damage and even help reduce pain.

At Kinnect to Wellness we are trained in delivering the GLA:D osteoarthritis program and we also develop programs for individuals not able to attend a GLA:D class or who just prefer to work at their own pace. 

You can contact us to book your assessment and find out how we can help you manage your pain and get you back to activity!