Dr. Paul Stillman: In this video, we’ll learn how physiotherapy can help with the management of osteoarthritis. The main issues with osteoarthritis are both pain and stiffness, and physiotherapy can help with both. First I’m going to introduce Tim Allardyce, who works at Croydon Physiotherapy. Tim has used his skills on both professional football players and Olympic athletes.

Tim Allardyce: ‘Arthritis’ literally means ‘inflammation of the joints’. It comes from the Greek ‘arth-‘ meaning ‘joints’ and ‘-itis’ meaning ‘inflammation’. It’s just a buildup of pain and swelling around the joints. The arthritis I’m going to deal with today is osteoarthritis, which is the buildup of inflammation on the joint’s surface due to degenerative change.  Osteoarthritis is incredibly common; in fact, it’s almost inevitable that as we get older, we will suffer some degree of wear and tear. Now in many cases it’s quite possible to live with these symptoms, to manage it, to keep mobile, to live a normal life and have no major problems. If the pain or stiffness builds up and gets very severe, that’s when most people realize they need extra help, and they consult their doctor or general practitioner, or come to a physiotherapist to ask us if we can do anything to help with the arthritis. In many cases, we can.