Are you suffering from joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Or do you have difficulty in moving your joint which affects your range of motion? Do these symptoms signify that you already have arthritis? Only your doctor can tell you with certainty. But here are some information that you need to know about arthritis.
Arthritis is a variety of conditions involving joint inflammations and pains. It can either be degenerative wherein symptoms usually worsen along the way, or it can autoimmune which, a condition marked by a chronic clinical course and inflammatory flares.
Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are the two types of arthritis. The former is an effect of the wear and tear of the cartilage that gives rise to the bones rubbing together. This will produce friction, impairment, and inflammation. On the other hand, the latter is an autoimmune disease—a systemic condition triggering symptoms all over the body. This is a result when the healthy joint tissues are attacked by the immune system by mistake.
So what can you do if ever you have arthritis? While your doctor can prescribe a medication that can offer relief from your arthritis pain, there are natural remedies and approaches that you may try.
1. Regular exercise
Exercise is beneficial for people with arthritis. With exercise, you can manage your weight, retain the flexibility of your joints, and strengthen the muscles surrounding your joints for support. Thus, it is highly recommended to set up a suitable exercise program which you can execute with your trainer or other persons for additional motivation. You may choose from these low-impact exercises: cycling, walking, tai chi, swimming, and other water activities.
2. Weight management
According to the American College of Rheumatology and Arthritis Foundation, you should consider losing weight when you have osteoarthritis and when you are either overweight or obese. This is because your weight has great repercussions on arthritis symptoms.
Your excess weight will cause additional pressure on your joints, particularly on your hips, feet, and knees. When this stress is reduced by losing weight, you will feel an improvement in your mobility. It will also reduce your pain and prevent future joint damage.
You can ask your doctor about the ideal weight that you should have and what program that you must follow to achieve that target.
3. Healthy diet
Various studies show that dietary preference affects people suffering from arthritis. An individual can improve the immune system and overall health by choosing a diet that is rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole foods.
Since arthritis is associated with joint inflammation, a plant-based diet can help. With this diet, your body can obtain antioxidants that eliminate free radicals from the body, thereby bringing down inflammation.
A person with arthritis should avoid a diet that will aggravate inflammation. This diet mostly includes processed foods, red meat, added salt and sugar, and saturated fats. Aside from its inflammatory effect detrimental to people with arthritis, these foods can also lead to other health issues which include high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure, among other complications.
4. Hot and cold therapy
A person with arthritis may relieve himself from pain and inflammation through the use of hot and cold therapy.
Heat treatments such as having a lengthy warm bath or shower in the morning can help you ease the stiffness. You may also use a moist heating pad or an electric blanket which can alleviate your pain overnight. There are also over-the-counter topical ointments and creams containing capsaicin that can provide warmth and can soothe joint pain. Capsaicin comes from chilli peppers.
On the other hand, cold treatments can also be used to help relieve joint pain, inflammation, and swelling. You can wrap a gel ice pack in a towel and apply this to the affected area for quick relief. Just be reminded not to directly apply a piece of ice to your skin. If you don’t have a gel ice pack, you can use a bag of frozen vegetables instead.
5. Massage therapy
Massage, aside from delivering a general sense of comfort, can also help in managing joint discomfort and pain. Though there is insufficient proof that massage is indeed a treatment for arthritis, it is, however, unlikely that it can pose risks to people suffering from it. It can even offer indirect benefits such as the reduction of stress. There are available experienced massage therapists that can help you deal with joint pains. Or you can learn self-massage by asking physical therapists to teach you some basics.
Although you can try these five things discussed above, it is still advisable to have your condition be checked by your doctor. You may visit an online walk-in clinic Thunder Bay for this purpose.
After undergoing a physical examination, your doctor will suggest some tests to confirm his suspicion of what type of arthritis you have. Then, several treatments will be tried to identify which one is best suited for you.
Your medication will depend on the type of arthritis diagnosed. This commonly includes painkillers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, counterirritants, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, biologic response modifiers, and corticosteroids.
If conservative measures will not work, surgery might be an option. This could be a joint repair, replacement, or fusion.
At the end of the day, you must know that arthritis, whatever its type, can be treated. There are natural remedies that you can try, and medical professionals that can help you.