Treating Spondylitis with Physiotherapy
By: Mark MonteiroTotal Views: 114, Word Count: 520,
Ankylosing spondylitis is a seditious arthritic disease or spondyloarthropathy, classified with reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and bowel disease arthritis. The underlying relationships between these diseases are multifaceted, but they are connected by enteritis (swelling of the ligament junctions) and by possession of the HLA B27 gene on white blood cells. The enteritis process at the joint edges could cause fibrosis and then ossification of the area (formation of bone).
Physiotherapy procedures for patients with Ankylosing spondylitis are generally used in combination with drug therapy, during a spa treatment and for extended periods of reduction. The most common physiotherapy procedures are thermotherapy, magnetic therapy and cry therapy. However, there are some doctors who disagree about treating spondylitis with physiotherapy.
Magnetic treatment almost brings a short term relief to the patients’ suffering from spondylitis. As there are many patients suffering from this disease, it’s not possible to visit the clinic for this therapy; so the devices for this therapy could be purchased and often carried out at home.
Heat treatment is also simple to carry out at home; however, the practice shows that in some cases the hot water bottles or application of paraffin on the patient’s joints could cause even more swelling. The positive effect is the bath taken, but the hot tub might increase the swelling of the joints.
There are some disputes about the cry therapy, i.e. treating a cold. This is most likely due to the sharp decline in the general condition of the patient which is observed after a session of this therapy. Several doctors warn the patients directly that after the first session they could experience swelling in their joints. However, this doesn’t mean that cry therapy only brings harm; several patients experience significant improvement after a week.
The patients suffering from spondylitis are also prescribed sodium chloride baths, anti inflammatory and analgesic effect as well as bishofit bath. Treating spondylitis with physiotherapy also involves massage and manual therapies in remission. Almost all doctors state that massage should not be intense as it could aggravate the swelling process. However, there are also some cases where the conditions of the patients improved after a course of hard massage conducted by traditional healers not familiar with medicine.
Postural analysis of the patient suffering from AS is the first thing a physiotherapist notes after the slanted examination, recording flexed knees, spinal abnormalities, rounded shoulders or poking head posture. The ranges of movement of the thoracic, cervical and lumbar spine are measured and a battery of standard measures taken which permits assessment of the disease progression. The hips or other tangential joints could be affected and these need to be measured also, with the physio likely testing out sites where enthuses are likely to be painful and inflamed. The patient might also have joint effusions and might appear unwell, by sweating and not have slept well if the disease is active.
\From the above points, it’s apparent that there is no uniform opinion on treating spondylitis with physiotherapy; however, the patients have the choice to rely on their own instinct and the reaction of their bodies.
About the Author
Dr. Mark Monteiro is graduated from the Hazard University and done his MBA from the he University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Currently he is working as general physician at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health. For over 15 years he has been a pioneer in the field of physician health. He has contributed to the treatment of many diseases like- ASTHMA, TUBERCULOSIS, HIV, HEPATITIS AND ITS TREATMENT.
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