A group education and exercise program for patients with osteoarthritis
A diagnosis of Osteoarthritis of the hips and knees can be a life changing experience. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of Arthritis, affecting almost 17 percent of Canadians aged 15 or older. Often referred to as ”wear and tear” Arthritis, OA is a degenerative joint disease that causes inflammation and loss of cartilage leading to pain, stiffness and inflexibility in joints such as the knees, hips and spine.
Life Force Physiotherapy is thrilled to be a certified provider of the Gla:DTM Canada Program, a research-based standardized program for Osteoarthritis patients. This education and exercise program is designed to empower you to manage your symptoms, exercise and use your muscles correctly for long-term stability and pain relief.
What can GLA:D™ Canada do for you?
This program will teach you the right way to move to reduce your OA symptoms
In Denmark, people taking the GLA:D® program
o have reduced pain
o take fewer pain killers
o take less time off work
o are able to be more active
GLA:D™ Canada is for everyone with symptoms of hip or knee OA!
Step 1 – GLA:DTM Education
The education component of the program is designed to give you a thorough understanding of Osteoarthritis, including the risk factors and symptoms, as well as the current treatment modalities available.
We will discuss the difficulties faced in day-to-day movement, why and how you should exercise, and how you can manage your own symptoms.
Step 2 – GLA:DTM Exercise Sessions
The exercise portion of the Hip and Knee Program is a 6 week series of group functional exercise classes individually designed to improve your posture, provide you with joint protection strategies and build strength and control, so that you can establish safe movement patterns to confidently and safely carry out your daily activities.
Step 3 – Ongoing Monitoring
We will measure how you are doing throughout the exercise portion of the program so that you can follow your progress and we can tailor the program to your needs. As you progress through the Hip and Knee Program, we at Life Force Physiotherapy believe that a supervised work-out environment is crucial to help you ease safely into your self-directed exercise plan. Following the completion of the program in our Physio Supervised Exercise Program, our physiotherapists will keep an eye on your movements and exercises in our Physio Supervised Exercise Program so that you can feel confident that you’re staying on track.
