Occupational therapy improves hand strength in RA patients
The results of a new small French study indicate that occupational therapy for the wrist and hand may be beneficial for people with early stage rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
During the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, hand function problems frequently become an impediment to normal daily activities. Studies indicate that RA patients’ hand-grip strength is only 25 percent of healthy adults. This makes performing routine tasks, like lifting a grocery bag or opening a jar, challenging.
The intent of occupational therapy is to help people with a variety of disabilities or diseases to retain their ability to complete everyday tasks. In the French study, occupational therapists educated patients on how to protect their joints during their normal daily activities and provided them with hand and wrist exercises to do every day on their own. The patients were also provided splints for nighttime wear to protect and stabilize their joints.
In the French study researchers compared two groups of patients. 30 patients received occupational therapy at the start and 30 patients that did not start therapy until three months later. The intent of the study was to determine whether occupational therapy for the hand and wrist could be useful for people who were recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
The group that received therapy at the start showed a gain in grip strength compared with the second group after the first 3 months. Likewise, after the patients in the second group started therapy they also showed strength improvements.
According to senior researcher Dr. Pierre Miossec, of Hopital Edouard-Herriot in Lyon, “The key point of the study is that (occupational therapy) leads to increased hand strength. It indicates that patients with RA should remain active.”
Dr. Pierre Miossec also says that this is the opposite to the traditional idea that rheumatoid arthritis patients should take it easy. “It is just the opposite,” Miossec said. The results also support starting occupational therapy sooner rather than later.
The results of this research was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases .
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Originally posted 2009-02-28 12:01:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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