Will doing something physical increase or reduce one’s arthritis pain? Find tips on common issues one feels when dealing with the symptoms of arthritis and the pain. Arthritis is among the common causes of disability in people around the world. You can get lots of advice on alleviating this pain and other health conditions by reducing stress, doing exercise and taking medication. Read the following details about the things to do and others to avoid, and thereby discover what sort of things will work best for you.
Basics
No matter what your condition is, staying ahead of the pain will be much easier for you when you do the following.
- Learn everything possible concerning your health condition, including the kind of arthritis that you have, plus whether you have any damaged joints.
- Enlist the help of your loved ones and doctor in dealing with your arthritis pain.
- Inform your medical professional when the pain changes.
Daily Routines
Focus on your joints whenever you are standing, sitting and doing some activity.
- Keep the joints moving. Each day,do gentle stretches which move the joints to the maximum possible extent.
- Have good posture. Tell your physical therapist to show you the way to stand, sit and move properly.
- Be Aware of Your Limits: Make it a point to balance the physical stuff and rest. Do not overdo anything because that can make your symptoms worse.
Besides, you must make changes to your lifestyle to ease your pain. Here are some changes that you should make.
- Manage weight: Do you know that being too fat can add to arthritis complications and help to bring about the pain? The most common effective way to manage weight is to make incremental and permanent changes that lead to a gradual loss of weight.
- Quit smoking. Besides many other issues, smoking also leads to stress on your connective tissues that can make your arthritis pain worse.
Exercise
When one has arthritis, physical activity can make their range of motion (ROM) better, strengthen their muscles, boost their endurance and reduce their stiffness and pain.
Do’s
Select the proper forms of activities – the ones that grow the muscles in the region of the joints without damaging these muscles. A therapist will be able to help develop a physical exercise schedule that is ideal for you.
Concentrate on stretching, gradual progressive resistance training and ROM exercises. Make low-impact cardio exercises, like bicycling, water exercises, or walking, a part of your schedule. This will help make your mood better and will help keep your weight in check.
Don’ts
Do not do activities involving repetitive and high-impact motion, like the ones mentioned below.
- Jumping
- Running
- Playing tennis
- Aerobics
- Doing the same physical activity over and over, like a serve in Tennis.
Medications
Several kinds of arthritis pain relief medications are available. Almost every medication is rather safe, but most will have some side effect or the other. Talk to your medic about formulating a medication schedule for your particular pain symptoms.
Do’s
Certain pain medications you can buy without a prescription can help alleviate occasional pain. Such pain occurs when you do the kind of activity, which your joints and muscles are not used to.
A cream that contains capsaicin is perhaps applied to the skin over an aching joint. Use it as it is or together with your oral medication. Seek advice from your doctor when without-prescription medications fail to alleviate your arthritis pain.
Don’ts
- Undertreatment: Avoid trying to ignore prolonged and severe pain. You might develop joint swelling or damage that requires you to take medication each day.
- Overtreatment: Consult your medic when you are taking over-the-counter (OTC) medications to alleviate your pain on a regular basis.
- Focus On Pain Alone: Many people who have arthritis feel depressed. Doctors have discovered that using antidepressants and therapies to treat depression alleviates both depression symptoms and arthritis-related pain.
Emotional and Physical Integration
Unsurprisingly, this pain negatively affects these people’s mood. When daily activities hurt you, you are likely to be discouraged. However, when such normal feelings increase to cause a constant cycle of hopeless and fearful thoughts, your arthritis pain can worsen and managing it can be much harder for you.
Do’s
Some of the treatment forms that break negative mind-body interactions are as follows.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): This therapy that combines behavior modification and talk therapy, helps you discover and interrupt sequences of some self-defeating actions and thoughts.
- Relaxation therapy: Do yoga, meditate, listen to music, deep breathe, write a diary – do anything that helps you calm down. Relaxation can only help you alleviate pain.
- Acupuncture: When trained professionals put thin needles into specific body spots, some feel relief.
Don’ts
Negative thoughts: When you spend plenty of time thinking about negative things, these thoughts increase, which can then aggravate the pain and increase disability risk. Rather, distract your mind by spending time with those that support you, doing the things you love to do, and think about consulting a therapist.
Smoking
Using tobacco to cope with your emotions can have the opposite effect. Toxins contained in smoke lead to stress on your connective tissue, causing more joint issues.