Current principles of rehabilitation for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Rehabilitation is rooted in the comfort and palliation that sufferers of rheumatic symptoms have sought from physical modalities throughout history. In recent decades, several of these empiricisms have been tested scientifically. Furthermore, function has joined comfort as a desirable and measurable outcome. This article highlights some of the more substantive information as it relates to rheumatoid arthritis. It is clear that such information facilitates more effective and efficient programs of intervention. It is equally clear that the therapeutic perspective of rehabilitation for rheumatoid arthritis is more appropriately applied throughout the course of the disease in an ongoing program of habilitation than held in reserve as a form of salvage.