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Can Exercising Help with Arthritis Pain Relief?

If you’re living with arthritis and joint pain and stiffness due are already bogging you down, the idea of exercising or even just walking around the block can seem like a tall order. However, it is what you exactly need to effectively alleviate your symptoms.

Getting your joints moving helps improve their flexibility, stability, range of motion, and overall function, all of which translate into significant symptom relief. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of exercise for alleviating arthritis pain as well as improving the overall health of your joints.

Strengthens Your Muscles

Joints rely upon muscles for stability and support: the stronger your muscles, the more capable they are of controlling the movements of – and absorbing the forces that impact – your joints.

Resistance training, a type of exercise that makes your muscle groups work against external force or weight, greatly helps improve their strength, mobility, and ultimately, ability to support your joints.

Keeps Your Joints “Well Oiled”

Each of your joints is surrounded by soft tissue called the synovial membrane, which produces fluid that acts like oil in an engine (synovial fluid). Synovial fluid allows for frictionless movement of your joints and cushions your bones.

Physical activity exposes your synovial membrane to a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients and boosts circulation of the synovial fluid.  Better joint lubrication means less joint pain and stiffness.

Promotes Weight Loss

Excess weight can add to the strain on your joints. While exercise doesn’t reverse arthritis, it facilitates weight loss, which can help arthritic joints feel better and slow the progression of the condition.

Biking, swimming, walking, and water activities are all safe, nondrug ways to ease arthritis pain. What’s more, these forms of exercise can help improve joint function and brighten your mood.

Arthritis Treatment in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach, FL

If you have arthritis and you want to reap the benefits of exercise, it is best to consult your primary care physician. Ask your doctor about a referral to a physical therapist, who can put together a targeted exercise program for lasting pain relief.

Exercise, when overdone, can also harm your joints. A physical therapist can help you stay on the safe side and advance through stages according to what goals you have already achieved.

If you’re in search of a primary care provider in the Wellington area in Florida, consider us here at Advanced Medical Clinic. Our team includes a board-certified internal medicine physician and a board-certified family nurse practitioner who work hand in hand to bring one goal to fruition: to provide the highest quality of compassionate health care, so patients can focus on living their best lives.

To schedule an appointment with one of our providers, call our office today at (561) 434-1935 or use our convenient online request form.

What Can a Family Doctor in Wellington Treat?

Family medicine is grounded on the most basic social unit—the family. Family medicine doctors receive specialized training in the diagnosis and treatment of the entire spectrum of medical conditions that affect the members of an entire family unit: the mother, the father, the children, and even the grandparents.

It doesn’t mean, however, that you need to have a family to be attended to by a family doctor. Rather, it implies that family doctors can provide care to patients of all ages, throughout their lives, and for multiple generations at the same time.  

To get a better insight into how you can benefit from the expertise of a family doctor, let’s explore the various conditions they treat and the scope of their services.

Emerging, Acute, and Chronic Conditions

 

As your primary care provider, your family doctor knows your medical history and can evaluate new and unusual symptoms, which may be indicative of a development of a potentially serious medical condition. In other words, if you’re experiencing symptoms that you suspect to be those of a chronic condition, your family doctor is the usually the first physician you see to ascertain whether these symptoms are any cause for concern. Your family doctor will then order the necessary tests, interpret the results, and constantly monitor your symptoms to see if there’s any progression.

Should these symptoms point to a chronic condition, your family doctor can provide personalized, ongoing treatment and coordinate your care with other sub-specialists, when need be. Common chronic diseases treated by family doctors include arthritis, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension.

Your family doctor is also your go-to – and often, your only stop– for appropriate diagnoses and treatment of acute conditions, such as urinary tract infection, cold, flu, sinus infection, ear infection, among others.

Women’s Health

Contrary to what many women think, a wellness appointment with their OB/GYN doesn’t necessarily cover their primary care needs. Albeit an OB/GYN can cover specific gynecologic or reproductive health issues, it isn’t the same as seeing a family doctor.

A recent study indicates that women who consult their family doctors for preventive care receive a broader range of care. The bottom line is that visits with family doctors can complement visits with OB/GYNs.

Other Services Provided by a Family Doctor

Apart from diagnosing and providing treatment for diseases, family doctors also provide health and nutrition counseling, health-risk assessments, early pregnancy care, family planning, wellness checkups, immunizations, and screening tests. 

Family Medicine Provider in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach

If you’ve been on the world wide web to search for a family doctor in Wellington, Florida, your search ends here. At Advanced Medical Clinic, our board-certified family nurse practitioner–Shariffa Gunawardene—is a family medicine provider, who is dedicated to delivering evidence-based, compassionate, and patient-centered care to everyone in our community.

 To schedule an appointment with Shariffa, call us at (561) 434-1935. You may also use this secure online appointment form.