In addition to oral or injectable medications, there are a number of nonmedical, physical, and surgical treatments for psoriatic arthritis. The management of psoriatic arthritis is a team approach. In addition to your family doctor, dermatologist, and rheumatologist, you may work with a physiotherapist or occupational therapist.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapists are university-trained health care workers who try to help people achieve their highest level of physical function. Physiotherapists can develop and implement personalized programs that can:
- increase mobility and improve endurance
- restore and increase range of motion in joints
- control pain
- educate patients about their condition and pain-control techniques
 |
| Psoriasis Natural Healing |
Exercise
Moderate to low-impact exercise can:
- maintain and improve joint range of motion
- reduce weight and pressure on joints
- improve aerobic capacity and cardiovascular fitness
- relieve joint stiffness and pain
- improve strength
Hydrotherapy/ Aquatherapy
Aquatherapy or water therapy is a series of exercises performed in the pool. Exercises performed in the water are low impact, and therefore easier on painful, swollen joints.
Hot or Cold Therapy
Hot wraps with a towel or hot pack can relieve painful muscle soreness and joint pain. Cold therapy can reduce swelling and tenderness of psoriatic arthritis. A cheap and effective cold pack is a bag of frozen vegetables. It can be easily molded to affected joints, and the cold can help reduce the swelling and pain of psoriatic arthritis.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists help provide assistance in activity and tasks of daily life in patients with psoriatic arthritis. As the name implies, occupational therapists may work with patients to facilitate their occupations, including self-care, leisure, tasks of daily life, and workplace activities.
Occupational therapists are able to assist people in continuing to perform activities of importance to them. For example, a patient with arthritis mutilans may have difficulty grasping objects or opening a jar of food. Occupational therapists can help provide solutions with innovative tools to assist in activities and maintain such abilities. If you have severe psoriatic arthritis with deformed joints, you can learn new and different ways to complete daily tasks.
Surgery
Given the many medical and physical treatments discussed above, most people with psoriatic arthritis will never need surgery. Patients with severely damaged and deformed joints may require surgical procedures such as:
- Synovectomy: This is a surgical procedure involving removal of all or a portion of the lining of the joint (synovial membrane) or diseased portion of the joint to improve function.
- Arthropathy or joint-replacement surgery: This involves replacing natural joints with an artificial joint.
Your Health Care Team
The overall management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis is a team effort, often including a dermatologist, rheumatologish family physician, and other health care specialists like physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Educating the patient about psoriatic arthritis is an important responsibility for the team. The patient should be informed that psoriatic arthritis is a long-term, persistent inflammatory disease, and that steady therapy is required. A combination of drugs and rehabilitation methods may be needed for therapy.
 |
| Psoriasis Natural Healing |
The patient's responsibility involves maintaining a healthy lifestyle by exercising to preserve or improve joint mobility. The patient should also follow treatment steps accordingly. To find out more, you can check out Psoriasis Natural Healing.