Treatment Options for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
In the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, doctors typically recommend a combination of medication, lifestyle changes, dietary goals, exercise, and physical therapy aimed to address the following:
– Relieve painful RA symptoms to put the disease in remission.
– Prevent any further joint damage and disability.
– Improve joint function and overall well-being.
To attain these goals, medical professionals will often recommend these strategies to treat rheumatoid arthritis:
Physical therapy
Physical therapy is a tool often recommended to improve joint function and overall range of movement for RA patients. Therapeutic exercises will often be used to help make movement in the hands and feet pain free. Therapists will often also introduce assistive tools—such as emergency alarms, reaching sticks, buttons to open doors, walking assists (i.e., canes), buttonhooks for dressing, and cooking and food preparation aids (i.e., grasping aids to help open jars and protective knife handles to protect the wrist and fingers).
Dietary changes
Diet can impact the lives of rheumatoid arthritis patients in a positive or negative manner. With the primary goal of managing pain and encouraging improved joint function, doctors will often prescribe patients consume a well-balanced diet consisting of lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains while avoiding inflammatory foods such as red meat, refined sugar, processed foods, and fatty fried foods. Health professionals may also introduce supplementing with fish oil and/or plant oils (i.e., evening primrose oils) known for their natural pain-relieving benefits.
Physical activity
Daily, low-impact exercise is important for RA patients in order to promote regular movement and improved range of motion. Good examples of RA-approved exercise includes swimming, Tai Chi, yoga, and walking, which is gentle on swollen joints.
Medication
Medications prescribed to treat RA focus on relieving symptoms while slowing the progression of the disease. However, many medications used to treat RA often carry serious side effects (i.e., mood swings, weight gain, and bone loss), which is why patients should be closely monitored by a doctor and adhere to drug frequency and dosage to prevent an overdose. To treat painful RA symptoms, doctors often prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (or NSAIDS) such as over-the-counter ibuprofen (i.e., Advil) or naproxen sodium (ie., Aleve). To reduce inflammation, prednisone (a corticosteroid) is often prescribed either via oral pill or injection. Lastly, doctors aim to prevent the progression of RA with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (or DMARDS) paired with a “biologic agent” (i.e., etanercept, batacept, adalimumab, certolizumab, etc.).
Surgery
Surgical intervention is considered only for RA patients with severely damaged mobility in instances where a joint or tendon can be saved or replaced entirely. For instance, joints may be fused or removed via a synovectomy (removal of inflamed joint lining) performed on a knee, hip, finger, wrist, or elbow. Joints can also be surgically replaced with prosthetics created from metal or plastic.
