Arthritis and muscle weakness Posted: 07-07-08 23:59pm
My father (60yo) has had dodgy shoulders
(arthritis, apparently) for some 20 years,
and it seems to be becoming progressively
worse over time, to the point where now he
cannot open many doors, lift a dinner
plate, lift a large newspaper or indeed a
full coffee mug due to the pain or
potential to later cause pain. Nor will
he shake hands or hug, for the same
reason. In short, it's extremely
debilitating and difficult for he and my
mother, and he claims that there is
nothing that can be done to prevent it's
continued development.
Yet he swims 1 mile twice weekly
(freestyle), so range of movement seems to
be quite good.
Now I realise that my experience with
injuries is restricted to sports injuries
that I have worked to get over from time
to time, and I am 'only' 37 years old, but
I would have thought that he ought to be
doing limited-range strengthening
exercises etc (supervised) to build at
least a little strength and protection
around the shoulders.
So, my questions are;
Is this really arthritis, if he is able to
swim regularly without pain?
Is it normal for shoulder arthrits to
result in such severe disability?
Should he be more strongly encouraged to
seek an excercise regime from a physical
therapist?
PS. He is a little paranoid and something
of a hypochondriac.
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MandMs
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 2122 Location: Strumica, Macedonia
Thanks: 39
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Posted: 07-08-08 07:34am
Shoulder arthritis may be very disabling.
People with arthritis should try to move
their joints through their full range of
motion every day (during daily activities,
joints aren't moved through their full
range of motion) with special therapeutic
exercises.
These exercises will be adjusted to how
much the joint is swollen and painful and
can be recommended only by his physical
therapist.
During swimming, water support of the arms
and legs helps the arthritis sufferer to
move the joints through range of motion
exercises more easily (support by the
water decreases body weight applied to the
joints of the spine, legs, and feet).
Is your father taking some drug therapy?
Was his joint damage evaluated by his
doctor recently?
