Help with Arthritis

What is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a medical condition in which a person experiences pain, stiffness or swelling in joints of the body. There are over 100 different types of arthritis. It may affect people of any age.

The most common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis shows itself in the form of swollen joints, most commonly in the fingers, knees or hips. Weather changes could affect the condition, becoming worse in cold weather. Rheumatoid arthritis is evident in the form of pain in the joints in the hands and the feet, specially when you wake up in the morning. If it progresses, in extreme cases the joints may lose their mobility and even get deformed.

Causes of Arthritis

While causes of many forms of arthritis are not exactly

Time to see doctor?

It is time to check with your doctor if:

• Your joints ache, more particularly, in the morning. If you have ache for one or two days, that could be due to various reasons but if this happens consistently for a week or two, make an appointment with the doctor.
• If you notice swelling on your joints for no known reason and this is recurring.
• Do you feel like the temperature on certain joints of the body feels more than the rest of the body? It seems to be reddish too? Check with your doctor.
• If every now and then, you feel like you are not able to bend your knuckles or knees normally and there is no known reason, yes, you must get the phone off the hook and make the earliest appointment.

Helpful Tips for Arthritis condition

In addition to the treatment that your doctor has advised you, below are some tips to help yourself.

• Continue living your normal life. Do not succumb to the arthritis pain and give up mobility, else the condition will deteriorate rapidly. Unfortunately, in the family, I have had a chance to see the worst form of arthritis. Please try to continue your normal everyday chores around the house and for your body yourself. As far as possible, do not accept help in dressing yourself, brushing your hair, getting a glass of water, etc. You will be much better off doing things as much as possible by yourself.
• Swimming is a very good exercise. You may want to adopt regular swimming after talking to your doctor. Whether you were active or not but if you are diagnosed with arthritis, you must become active. Active lifestyle will keep the progress of the condition in check. The joints that are showing symptoms of arthritis will need to be exercised specifically and your doctor will explain to you specific exercises for the affected parts.
• Dancing and aerobics are also exercises if you are in the very initial stages. You should check with your doctor though first because while exercising is important, in some cases, over exercising of the affected joint can cause harm.
• Have you heard of "Tai Chi"? Tai Chi is a Chinese form of martial arts that is adopted by many for gentle exercising. For arthritis condition, that is what you need, gentle exercises for joints and muscles.
• To ease the pain, hot water packs may be used. Radiant heaters also ease the pain.
• Eat healthy, well balanced food. Overweight makes the pain and the condition worse, use exercise and diet to maintain a healthy weight.
• Tender massage with a balm alleviates the pain and soreness in the joints. Balm definitely works much better but cooking oil can be used for massage if you do not have balm available.