. Use this article to shed some light on how difficult it can be to live with arthritis. Reduce the stress in your daily life. Stress causes your body to release the neurochemical cortisol, while causes inflammation. People with arthritis should know that inflammation is the main cause of the pain and stiffness of arthritis. Reducing stress reduces your body’s production of these chemicals, which relieves your symptoms.
Tips to consider:
- If you want to minimize the pain of arthritis, avoid being over weight. Having just a few extra pounds on your body adds strain to joints and ligaments. It can increase the pain of arthritis, and keep your symptoms coming back again and again. Losing just ten pounds can make a big difference, so do it today.
- To use a manual stapler while living with arthritis, press down on the stapler with your forearm. Do this instead of using your wrist. The wrist is one area that can become especially sensitive and painful during an arthritis flare up. Keeping from having to use it during those moments means less pain for you, and the task getting accomplished faster too.
- Stay away from heating pads if your arthritis is flaring up. All they are going to do is make your symptoms worse. Instead, apply a cold compress to the area where your arthritis is located. You could even wrap a package of frozen peas or another frozen vegetable in a towel and apply to the area.
- If your arthritis has been diagnosed, then you are entitled to a handicapped sticker or plate. This is not widely-known by those afflicted, suffering unnecessarily by not taking advantage of this helping hand.
- Aromatherapy is something you might want to try in search of arthritic pain relief. Aromatherapy has been shown to help ease the pain of arthritis.
- Go to a local yoga class. Yoga is beneficial to both the mind and body, as it increases flexibility in both areas. Yoga can teach you tricks on how to manage your symptoms effectively. Even if you cannot get out to a yoga class, you may want to try doing it at home.
- Exercising regularly will do wonders for your energy levels when you are dealing with psoriatic arthritis. Try to aim for 15 to 30 minutes of exercise a day to give you more energy and keep your body healthy and your bones strong. Make sure to not overdo it and end up tiring yourself out.
- Try regular sauna visits to treat ongoing arthritis problems. The warmth and humidity of a sauna may reduce arthritic inflammation. Reducing inflammation reduces the pain. For best results, a consistent sauna visit schedule should be established.
- Budget your energy wisely. If you know you will have an important task to take care of later in the day, be sure to remind yourself not to get too tired beforehand. Knowing how you are going to expend your energy during the day can help to make sure you get the things most important to you finished.
- Learn as much as you can about your condition if you have arthritis. The old adage that knowledge is power is especially true in this case. The more you learn about your form of arthritis and its treatments, the better chance you have of living a full and active life in spite of your condition.
- A timer can help you from working too long. Set your timer regularly to remind yourself that you need to take a break from what you are doing. Working through the pain means you are ignoring the message your body is sending you, and could lead to injury.
Final Notes:
Be patient with your doctor. With over a hundred different kinds of arthritis in existence, it may take a lot of time and tests before your doctor can tell you which specific one you have. In the meantime, research arthritis in general to find out what you may be dealing with in the future. To summarize, you know a bit about arthritis just from commercials that you see on the television, but you just do not understand how it can be such a big deal. Hopefully, this article explained the reasons why it can be such a burden to complete everyday tasks with this condition.