Health Essentials
Arthritis refers to a group of painful, degenerative, and overarching conditions marked by inflammation in the joints, causing pain, swelling, stiffness, and disability. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 23% of all adults in the United States have arthritis. At least one in four adults suffer from severe joint pain, limiting the types of work and daily activities they can do.
If you’re one of the 54 million people diagnosed with arthritis, you’re probably looking for a safe way to manage your symptoms. Doctors usually treat arthritis with painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications. However, some medications have side effects, so more and more people are looking at a natural approach to pain relief.
Fortunately, there are several home treatments for arthritis that have been proven effective. Remember to consult with your doctor before trying any of these natural remedies.
Maintain A Healthy Weight
Your weight has a huge impact on the amount of pain you suffer from arthritis. Each pound of extra weight puts more pressure on your joints, especially your hips, knees, and feet. Reduce pressure on your joints by losing weight to improve your mobility, alleviate pain and swelling, and prevent damage to your joints.
Based on a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism of overweight adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA), losing one pound of body weight is equivalent to removing four pounds of pressure from the knees. This means losing just 10 pounds can relieve 40 pounds of pressure from your knees.
Exercise
There are many benefits to exercise than just weight loss. Regular physical activity helps you maintain flexibility in your joints. Avoid weight-bearing and resistance exercises such as running and climbing stairs since these can cause more damage. Instead, try low-impact exercises like swimming and moderate-intensity aerobics to stretch and strengthen your joints without adding further pressure and stress to your knees, hips, and ankles. You can also increase strength and flexibility and ease joint pain and stiffness by stretching every day.
Be careful not to overdo your exercise, especially if you haven’t been active in a while. Talk with your doctor about exercise programs in your area for people with arthritis or consult with a physical therapist to customize a stretching program for your needs.
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Use Heat And Cold Therapy
Simple hot and cold treatments offer some of the best ways to get relief from arthritis pain. Heat therapy relaxes your muscles and helps loosen tight joints while cold therapy reduces pain, inflammation, and swelling due to arthritis.Taking a long, warm shower or bath, especially in the morning, can help ease stiffness in your joints. Using an electric blanket or heating pad at night can help relax your joints. Applying a gel ice pack wrapped in a towel to painful joints can give you quick relief.
You can also try alternating between heat and cold therapy throughout the day. Use heat therapy in the morning to loosen up joints then use cold therapy later in the day to reduce swelling.
Try A Paraffin Wax Bath
If you experience pain and stiffness mainly in your hands and feet, you can effectively reduce inflammation with a warm wax bath. A paraffin soak is a type of wax bath for your hands, forearms, feet, and lower legs. It is used to treat painful conditions such as arthritis.
A paraffin wax bath helps increase blood flow, lower fluid retention, flush out toxins, relax your muscles, relieve pain, and reduce stiffness and swelling in your joints. Regular paraffin treatments can be particularly effective if you suffer from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Add Turmeric To Your Meals
Turmeric is a common ingredient in many Indian recipes, but it has long been used in medicine because of its numerous health benefits. Adding turmeric to your meals does not just boost the flavor of your dishes, but this yellow spice also contains curcumin, a chemical compound with anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce arthritis pain and swelling.
You can add ground or grated turmeric to your herbal tea and a variety of meals, such as curries, soups, and rice bowls.
Waxing Kara
Get A Massage
Getting a regular massage for arthritic joints can alleviate your pain and soreness, increase your range of motion and flexibility, and improve your mental and emotional well-being. Ask your doctor for a recommendation in finding a massage therapist with experience working on people who have arthritis.
You can also consider working with a physical therapist to learn self-massage techniques. A daily self-hand massage can be effective in easing hand pain, providing you great relief from discomfort and lack of mobility caused by arthritis.
Try Acupuncture
This ancient Chinese medical treatment involves pricking specific points on your body with thin needles in order to reroute energies and restore balance in your body. The World Health Organization recommends acupuncture as a complementary therapy for over a hundred health conditions.
If you want to explore this method of treatment, look for an experienced and licensed acupuncturist in your area to help reduce your arthritis pain as well as improve your mental and emotional health. Remember to specify your condition, symptoms, and areas of body pain.
Meditate
Meditation and relaxation techniques can help you cope with pain and reduce stress brought about by arthritis. By reducing stress, inflammation decreases, resulting in a significant drop in pain and swelling. Based on studies done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), practicing mindfulness meditation is particularly helpful if you suffer from painful joints. People with depression and arthritis are found to benefit the most from meditation.
