Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

"Each day can be just like a bed of roses as long as day starts with joy within your heart."

Wilbur West, Lawrence resident, calmly reads a poem he wrote for his late wife, titled "Days of Joy."

Despite arthritis in his hands, he keeps handwriting poems and music compositions. He said he doesn’t let it slow him down.

Even though many different types of arthritis exist, when asked what type West had, he said, “No type, its just arthritis.”

Since 1990, the percentage of people with arthritis has nearly doubled, leaving one in three adults with the disease, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Arthritis causes pain to the joints, mostly in the hands and toes, but can occur in any part of the body.

People have many choices when treating arthritis. Without an exact cause, a cure for the disease remains to be found, however many options to ease the pain stand.

Pam Ebert, a physical therapist at Brandon Woods Retirement Community, works with residents doing exercises to help the hurting. “Strengthening of muscles will help support the joints and hopefully reduce the pain.”

The Indoor Aquatics Center, located in west Lawrence understands the suffering many people deal with from arthritis. A couple of years ago, they combined with Lawrence Memorial Hospital to produce an aquatics class designed to relieve pain from arthritis. The warm water from the pool soothes the joints and relieves the pain.

The class, which runs in eight week periods on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:00 a.m., has been such a success for people with the disease, that starting this summer the Indoor Aquatics Center will begin another class which will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the same purpose.

Lori Madaus, Aquatics Supervisor for the Indoor Aquatics Center, said the class, which will continue with more sessions into the fall, uses lots of flexibility movement within the joints. “It’s a slower moving class with no aerobics. It will help people affectively progress through the rest of their day without pain.”

The class will utilize slow movements of the body, such as walking through the water.

The Indoor Aquatics Center stands as the only facility in Lawrence to offer an aquatics class designed for people with arthritis. The eight-week course will run from June 6 to July 27 and cost $34.00. Already, four people have signed up.

The Brandon Woods Retirement Community houses its own pool with people trained to hold classes such as the aquatics class for its residents.

West said he heard the success of the class and tried it once, but enjoys relieving his pain by walking half a mile everyday. He adds that he used to walk a full mile, but had to cut it down. “When you get to be 91 years old things start to change.”

Corky Caillouet works in social services in the Arbor branch at Brandon Woods Retirement Community and deals with arthritis on a daily basis. She contributes her arthritis to family history.

She said it the disease has been on her father’s side of family for generations. “I grew up with people who had cripple hands and trouble walking.”

Caillouet agrees that water exercising is great for arthritis and said she herself enjoys the relaxation of the joints from swimming and hot tubs. However, Caillouet took a different approach to ease her pain.

In Garden City at the Sandhill Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine clinic, Dr. Michael J. Baughman helped Caillouet with her pain by removing the joints in her thumbs, the place that held the majority of her pain.

Julie Kirshoff, a nurse at Sandhill Orthopaedic, said the surgery is not unusual for doctors to perform. "It's fairly common to do in the hands and toes. It's for severe arthritis when the person can't tolerate the pain anymore."

"I had a friend in Garden City whose father had every joint in his hand removed," Caillouet said.

Along with his daily half-mile walks, West started a few weeks ago stretching his legs in bed to help the pain of arthritis that started in his lower back. For his last word of advice he said, "Sometimes I don't feel like doing it, but I do it anyway. You have to keep pushing yourself. It's so easy just to sit in a chair and do nothing, just like now, I was watching an old '007' movie when I should be out doing something else."

West said he will continue his walks instead of the aquatics class to help with his pain. He also added that on top of his daily walks, every night he walks a block to another part of the retirement community to visit his girlfriend.