In this video we’re going to be looking at the treatment of arthritis which of course varies according to the type that you’ve got.  Mostly it centers on managing your pain and by doing so improving your mobility and perhaps regaining some of the independence that you’ve lost.

There are two main ways of dealing with osteoarthritis. One is to relieve the stress on the joints and the other is to relieve the symptoms. So, if you’re relieving the stress on the joint you will often be relieving the condition and stopping it from progressing quite so fast.

A lot of people with osteoarthritis are overweight but if you become lighter, lose excess weight you put much less stress on the joints and so it can prevent deterioration.

A lot of people with osteoarthritis find that they do very well with simple painkillers like paracetemol. Sometimes anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprophen can help but inflammation isn’t a huge component of osteoarthritis.

And that’s why simple pain killers tend to work just as well if not a lot better than anti-inflammatory drugs. There are also creams and gels that you can use on the affected joint and that seems to work better when the arthritis is in a joint that’s quite superficial - like the knee, the hands and the wrist.

Exercise is good for the body generally and it releases chemicals called endorphins which help combat pain and lift your mood.  But obviously overdoing it will hurt your joint even more if you’ve got arthritis. So the ideal really is to pace yourself.

Often people with osteoarthritis need advice from a physiotherapist because what they’ll need to do is they’ll need to know when to rest the joint to pre-empt pain or to deal with pain that’s already there and they’ll need to know what exercises they can safely do to boost their all round fitness and to keep their muscles in good shape.

Whilst the medicines that you take and the hands on treatments that you receive should be produce a fairly quick result it’s important to remember that these are designed for long term usage.

So, if you’re taking medicine, do not stop it without consulting your doctor and if you’ve had a course of hands-on treatment perhaps from your physiotherapist, it’s quite likely that they will have recommended some exercises for you continue doing at home. Do please continue with those, they may even be necessary to consider as lifelong treatment.