Arthritis
Arthritis is the inflammation of one or more joints. Some common symptoms of arthritis are joint pain, swelling, reduced ability to move the joint, redness of the skin around a joint, stiffness, and even warmth around the joint. Wallace Physical Therapy in Tucson Arizona, serving all of Southern AZ, has treated many patients that have many different forms of arthritis. The two most commonly treated are osteoarthritis, also known as OA, which is a chronic condition characterized by the breakdown of the joint’s cartilage. The breakdown of cartilage causes the bones to rub against each other, causing stiffness, pain and loss of movement in the joint. The second being Rheumatoid arthritis, is a chronic disease, mainly characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the joints. It can lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability.
Bob Wallace has specialized in working with patients with both forms of arthritis for over 20 years. Treatments for arthritis will focus on eliminating the underlying cause, even though the cause is NOT necessarily curable, and at reducing the pain and discomfort and helping prevent further disability. Wallace Physical Therapy can use any or all of the following modalities during your treatment; ultrasound, ultrasound w/ electrical stimulation, massage, hot or cold packs, TENS machines, or other various stimulation machines, and specific exercises tailored to the specific type of arthritis.
Each therapist at Wallace Physical Therapy has the experience of understanding each patients needs and creating specific treatment plans to help alleviate their pain and how to cope during daily activities. An example of a treatment could be focused ultrasound to the affected area, like arthritis of the neck (cervical vertebrae), followed by massage to help relax the affected muscles, specific exercises to increase range of motion and strength training for muscle tone, the therapist will do some hands on manual mobilization and/or “tractioning” of the joints, and will end with either hot pack or ice pack and stimulation.
We have two convenient Physical Therapy offices in Tucson to serve our patients.
