What We Treat

Arthritis Treatment in Lakewood.

The stiff first ten minutes after you stand. The jar you hand to somebody else. Arthritis is not just a natural part of getting older, and finding out what is driving yours starts with a cause-first evaluation.

Osteoarthritis Rheumatoid arthritis Morning stiffness Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • Waiting out the first stiff ten minutes before your knees will take the stairs
  • Handing the jar to somebody else because your grip quit on it
  • Knees that seize up after one movie, one car ride, one long sit
  • A neck so tight you turn your shoulders to back out of the driveway
  • Knuckles that come up puffy and warm before you have even used them
  • Letting the garden beds go because kneeling costs you the next morning

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

Arthritis is the diagnosis. It is not the whole explanation.

Arthritis just means an irritated joint, and there is more than one way to get there. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage that cushions the joint thins out over years, so the surfaces stop gliding and the joint gets sore and swollen. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks the joint lining itself. Psoriatic arthritis travels with psoriasis and leaves joints painful and puffy.

Then there is everything piled on top. Old injuries. Posture that loads one side harder. A motion you have repeated for thirty years. Muscles that got weak around the joint and stopped sharing the work, so cartilage takes every step alone. That mix is different in every person, and it is what a cause-first evaluation is for: posture and movement analysis, mobility and gait testing, and a look at which joints are actually driving your day.

You have been the one who keeps everybody else moving. The rides, the errands, the grandkids. Your own joints have been last on the list for years. That is exactly why they belong at the top of it.

A licensed physical therapist checking an older adult’s knee range of motion during an arthritis evaluation

The Honest Truth

Rest does not settle a stiff joint. It stiffens it.

If you keep waiting

  • The joint gets stiffer, so you use it less, so the muscles around it get weaker
  • The good knee, the good hip, the good hand takes over the work and starts complaining too
  • Your day narrows to the movements that do not hurt, and that list keeps getting shorter

If you start this week

  • You leave visit one knowing which joints are driving this and what is feeding it
  • Hands-on work and the right kind of loading start settling the irritation
  • You get a plan with an endpoint, phase by phase, not an open tab of appointments

Nobody regrets starting too early. Plenty of people wish they hadn’t waited.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Built for your joints.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for arthritis.

Phase One

Pain

Settle the joint down.

Manual therapy and gentle, guided movement take pressure off the irritated joint and calm the swelling around it.

Phase Two

Prime

Take the motion back.

Range-of-motion work and postural correction give back the movement the stiffness has been quietly taking, one joint at a time.

Phase Three

Perform

Build the muscle that protects it.

Therapeutic exercise strengthens what surrounds the joint, so the cartilage stops absorbing every step on its own.

Phase Four

Prevent

Keep the joint you just got back.

Bracing and support where it earns its place, the stairs and the kneeling tested for real, and a routine you can run at home. That’s the endpoint, not another appointment.

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

An arthritic joint changes how you move, and the next one down the chain pays for it. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Hip & Knee Pain

Taking the stairs one at a time because the joint will not trust the next step.

Learn More 2

Chronic Pain

Pain that outlasted the injury and started running your calendar.

Learn More 3

Back Pain & Sciatica

Bracing on the counter just to stand up straight in the morning.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking for arthritis.

In California, no. Direct Access lets you start with a licensed physical therapist for up to 45 days or 12 visits, whichever comes first, before a physician has to sign off. An X-ray is not a prerequisite either, and it rarely changes what your joint needs from us. If your evaluation turns up something that belongs with your doctor, we’ll say so and coordinate. You don’t have to wait on another appointment to start.

Done properly, no. Joints are fed by movement, and the muscles around them are what keep load off the cartilage. A joint that gets rested stiffens, and the muscles protecting it fade. What matters is dose and direction, and that is what a licensed physical therapist works out at your evaluation and adjusts as you go. Nothing gets pushed onto a joint that is not ready for it.

You get a plan with an endpoint, so you always know which phase you’re in and what’s left. As a general guideline, not a guarantee, 2–3 visits a week for 4–6 weeks is what gets the most out of a plan. On cost: we accept 14 insurance plans, Medicare included, and we check your benefits before you start so nothing lands as a surprise. Under the 2013 Jimmo Settlement Agreement, Medicare must also cover skilled therapy that maintains your condition or slows decline, not only therapy that improves it.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back during business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
  • (562) 512-3320 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • No doctor’s referral needed to start

We call back during business hours, Monday to Friday

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Care this good, this close.

The PT People

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