If you’re one of the 54 million American adults living with arthritis pain, you understand the unique obstacles that discomfort places throughout your day.
Suppose you’re seeking temporary yet effective relief from arthritis symptoms or complementary treatments to integrate into your pain management plan. In that case, there are numerous things you can easily incorporate into your wellness routine.
The best strategy is to take a multifaceted approach. The more you do to treat your body the way it deserves to be treated, the better you’ll feel. Engage in these acts of self-care and help to subdue your arthritis pain.
What Causes Arthritis Pain?
There are hundreds of types of arthritis, each posing their own unique challenges. The two most common types of arthritis American adults face includes rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition, and osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the body begins to behave unexpectedly. It observes your joint tissue and believes that its foreign material. Your body mistakenly thinks it’s doing you a favor by attacking the joint tissue, such as that in your wrists or elbows. Discomfort and swelling are the byproducts of these attacks, which usually happen in “flares” or short bursts between periods of rest.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis occurs when the tissue between the joints begins to wear down. Many people with osteoarthritis experience these side effects due to aging. They’ve lived long, active lives, and their joints have a lot of mileage and memories that have resulted in wear and tear.
In some cases, osteoarthritis can occur due to accident, injury, or overuse of the affected joint. This can happen to anyone of any age.
Improving Your Diet and Managing Your Weight
Nutrition and weight management are essential for everyone – not just people with arthritis. In order to function properly, the body needs to be properly supplied with vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, and water. If it doesn’t have what it needs to perform crucial processes, those processes will suffer.
This can lead to many chronic, debilitating, or even fatal conditions, as well as a weak immune system. Diets high in key nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids can support healthy joints.
Your joints are responsible for holding and moving your body weight.
Excess body weight directly translates into increased joint stress. If you’re within or very close to the optimal weight range for your height, focus on proper nutrition and better habits. If you exceed the optimal weight range for your height, it’s time to focus on making meaningful lifestyle changes to promote your health and relieve your joints.
Try Yoga or Other Low Impact Exercise
Marathon running and weight lifting can be too intense for people who experience joint pain, as running causes impact to the joints, and weight lifting increases their burden. Low impact exercise like yoga or tai chi can help to strengthen your body and promote your circulation without putting intense stress on your joints.
Yoga can also help to relieve things like muscle pain. Stretching and improving your body mechanics through yoga may make it easier to perform daily tasks. You may sleep better when you feel more relaxed from a yoga session and awake feeling more refreshed.
Although yoga is a popular low-impact exercise for people living with arthritis, other activities can serve the same purpose.
Swimming, water aerobics, gentle trail walking, and cycling all have a similar effect. It’s most important to choose a form of exercise you enjoy. When you enjoy doing something, it’s much easier to find the motivation necessary to commit to a healthy habit.
Consult a physical therapist if you need guidance regarding how to exercise safely and effectively. A doctor may also recommend assistive devices like braces, splints, or a walker to help stabilize you during movement.
Make Regular Massage Therapy or Acupuncture Appointments
Chronic pain management requires therapies and medications that can be used on a regular basis without evoking adverse reactions or negative side effects.
Massage therapy can be a beneficial tool for people who live with chronic pain. In fact, many doctors will prescribe massage therapy to remedy pain from conditions like arthritis, and some insurance companies will reimburse or subsidize the cost of medically necessary massage treatments.
Massage works to reduce swelling associated with injury or swelling. It stimulates the lymphatic system, encouraging the body to remove fluid from areas that have accumulated naturally. It also works to improve the circulation of freshly oxygenated blood. Your body uses the nutrition it gets from your blood to naturally facilitate its repair processes.
Massage therapists typically have areas of specialty. Choose a massage therapy with experience providing services for people with joint pain. After a consultation, your massage therapist will work with you to establish proper massage techniques and create a treatment schedule to promote sustained relief.
Acupuncture is another option, which involves using thin needles carefully placed to ease tension and discomfort.
Find Healthy Distractions
The way the human body perceives pain can be directly attributed to its emotional state surrounding discomfort. Although there is no clear explanation for why some people have higher pain tolerances than others, there does seem to be a clear correlation between fear or aversion to discomfort and how an individual describes what they’re feeling.
Sitting and stewing in your pain won’t make it go away. Instead, it can exacerbate negative emotional symptoms.
Finding healthy distractions and outlets helps. Journaling, raising pets, meditating, deep breathing, watching wildlife, gardening, or even taking online academic courses can become a healthy point of focus.
When you notice your joint pain setting in, use a medically appropriate treatment, like heat therapy or cold therapy, and immediately redirect your focus to something you find fulfilling.
Use Arthritis Pain Gel or Cream
Unlike pain medications, temporary arthritis pain gel and other topical treatments can safely be used as a short-term method. You can apply these gels up to four times a day when you’re experiencing an arthritis flare-up. There are no side effects, and they don’t negatively interact with any oral medications.
These gels work to provide relief from the surface of the skin. They’re applied directly to the affected area and will begin to ease discomfort within minutes.
Most people find that topical arthritis treatments provide meaningful relief for several hours with each application. Many people find that using these gels before bed leads to better sleep and less joint stiffness upon waking.
Over-the-counter corticosteroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and naproxen are also commonly used but can have side effects.
Hempvana’s Answer to Arthritis Pain
Hempvana Extra Strength Arthritis Pain Relief Gel helps provide temporary relief for severe pain due to the cooling power of menthol. When applied to the skin, menthol activates the body’s cold receptors.
This pleasant tingle blocks pain signals from wholly and successfully reaching your brain, reducing the amount of overall discomfort you’ll feel in the affected area.
In addition to cooling menthol, our arthritis pain relief gel contains glucosamine and chondroitin. These two supplements are commonly used to preserve the health of joints. Nothing can repair joint tissue, but glucosamine and chondroitin work to safeguard the health and integrity of the tissue as it stands.
Sources:
Here’s Why Losing Weight Is the Key to Losing Joint Pain | Cleveland Clinic
Yoga for Arthritis: Benefits of Yoga for the Arthritis Patient | Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center
The Link Between Depression and Physical Symptoms | National Institutes of Health
Glucosamine, Chondroitin for Osteoarthritis Pain | Arthritis Foundation