The treatment of rheumatic diseases aims to control the symptoms (pain, stiffness, weakness, restriction of movement, loss of function, and others) and to interrupt the mechanisms of the disease (inhibition of inflammation, prevention of destruction of organ structures and function).
According to this, drugs are used on the one hand, and accompanying “non-drug” modalities on the other.
The latter include physiotherapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, behavioural therapy, psychological counselling and/or interventions and (as a complex combination of all these measures) rehabilitation. According to the modern understanding of disease or health as a process of bio-psycho-social interaction, the aim of all therapeutic interventions is to preserve or regain “participation” in life.