Public Education for Arthritis: Key to Future Health
In the future, popular attitudes toward health will play a part in relief from the sometimes crippling effects of arthritis. As more people recognize that their lifestyle affects their health, more will recognize that they are to a great extent responsible for the state of their own health. What they eat and drink, whether they smoke, and how they exercise, rest and relax is largely their own decision. People are taking an active role in promoting their own good health through lifestyle changes.
When a disease such as arthritis strikes many people will make use of the educational and informational services of organizations such as the US Arthritis Foundation. Information is available to help them locate appropriate medical assistance and to cope with the practicalities of everyday life in a more constructive, optimistic manner.
More people are realizing that they need not wait for a miracle cure for relief but can actively pursue better health in many ways. In addition to following the advice of their physician and health care team, they can win the battle with their disease through appropriate rest and exercise, a good, well-balanced diet and overall better physical condition. Techniques for rehabilitation therapy are expanding every day. The interdisciplinary activities of physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and psychiatry, together with medicine and surgery, continue to provide help and hope for more people with arthritis each year.
Fewer people now believe in myths and magic relating to arthritis and more are seeking legitimate treatment and professional care at earlier stages, when treatment may prevent more extensive and possibly permanent joint damage.
Public education programs are being carried out and more people are benefiting from the latest knowledge about arthritis. Self-help groups, organized by many hospitals and medical centers treating arthritic patients, provide the group support and interchange of information that helps many people with arthritis, face each day. Psychologists say these groups are important to arthritis sufferers because they reinforce physicians’ instructions, help to free participants from fear and give each individual the emotional support needed to cope with the disease.
There are many reasons to anticipate better ways of dealing with the problems of arthritis in the future. The keys to developments in arthritis care will come through a combination of improved drugs and increased attention to the interaction between medication and the patient’s lifestyle. The future will have much to offer arthritis patients.