When it comes to living with arthritis, we know it can flare up at any time. It can be in your hands, feet, neck, back, hips and knees. When pain strikes, you don’t want to have to cancel your days plans so that is why we have gathered some top tips when it comes to managing and easing arthritis pain at home.
Hot & Cold Therapy
Hot Therapy:
Warming up an affected area can help you ease the stiffness. It will then help you joint become more flexible and you can feel more at ease and comfortable.
Take heat therapy with you when it comes to exercise too. Before starting any form of exercise, it’s important to warm up. Your muscles are more flexible and looser. Its because of this that you will risk less tears and other injuries.
Cold Therapy:
The time for cold therapy is when you need to reduce inflammation and swelling. Ice, cool packs or even a bag of frozen peas cab help. When it comes to cold therapy, it’s important to remove it every 10 mins and then reapply. Never apply any cold/ice packs direct to skin, make sure it is wrapped in a towel or cloth first.
Diet
Remember the saying, you are what you eat? Well it’s true and what you eat can have a huge impact on your body. There are a number of food groups that can actually cause inflammation in the body, so its best to reduce or stay away from them.
The trick is to increase the amount of plant-based foods which are rich in antioxidants and can help reduce inflammation. With a diet full of red meat, processed foods and saturated fats can aggravate inflammation. Too much one thing is bad, that is why balance is important.
Exercise
Exercise can help you manage your weight, keep your joints more flexible and help strengthen the muscles around your joints which will offer more support.
To ensure that you don’t overdo it, the best exercise is to low-impact exercise. Low-impact exercise puts less pressure on your joints and this can involve:
- Swimming
- Golf
- Walking
- Aqua-aerobics
Daily Living Aids for Arthritis
When arthritis pain strikes, being able to carry out your daily tasks can be uncomfortable and painful. This is why have a few choice daily living aids about the house can help. If you struggle with arthritis in the morning, maybe a sock buddy or button hook can help make life easier.
Perhaps its the little things that aggravate your arthritis? Gripping keys, opening jars? Or maybe you need a helping had with some bigger ticket items? Like the kettle when making tea and cooking? Not to worry there are many daily living aids out there to help with arthritis. Click here for more.
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