How to Combat the Pain From Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a disease that is very common to both men and women and which most of us will experience to a certain extent in our lifetime. This ailment affects more than 50 million Americans and this is expected to increase as more people become old.

This is a disease that results from the wear and tear of the joints over the years, although there are other medical conditions which may cause this and other factors which increase the risks.

Osteoarthritis has also been known to be caused by medical conditions such as hemophilia, avascular necrosis, and other types of arthritis. Increasing the chances of getting this disease are factors such as injuries to the joints, being overweight, engaging in strenuous activities, and even genetic factors.

We do not have to accept this condition and live in pain for the rest of our lives even if this is part of the ageing process. We do not have to spend our time in a wheelchair or bed while people are going on with their daily routines. Simply making lifestyle changes may go a long way in easing the pain and preventing it from getting worse.

The following are simple things we can do right now:

• Continue to be active by engaging in light exercises that will help maintain the joints and their movements. Strongly recommended are swimming and other water exercises where weight is neutralized by the water which in effect eliminates stress placed on the joints. It would also be best to ask your healthcare provider for recommendations for the appropriate type of exercise.

• Maintaining the ideal weight would help a lot in easing the pain on the joints since the extra weight adds stress to the cartilages which interferes with the bones, thus increasing the chances of inflammation, pain, and swelling. It is advisable to have a weight maintenance program and this is best achieved with the assistance of an expert.

• This condition may also be addressed by using heat and cold treatments. When joints become swollen, hot, and tender, the best solution would be heat since cold would make it very painful. To prevent pain especially after the joints have been stressed from overuse or work, ice may be applied to the affected area.

• This condition is greatly alleviated by following a healthy and balanced diet. While there are some foods that are recommended, there are also a lot of foods that are prohibited which patients must stay away from.

These are just a few suggestions that can ease the suffering and allow us to go through with the usual daily activities. By following these simple suggestions, we may be spared of expensive medications and surgeries. It will save us from getting to the point where we have to undergo procedures like hip replacement.

Given a choice, nobody would ever want to have this procedure and we may even fare far worse by having defective hip implants as what is happening to a big number of patients. Serious complications have been felt by many users due to these devices and which has led to several complaints such as the Depuy ASR hip lawsuits. For more information about this you may check depuyasrhiplawsuit.com.

Reference:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001460/
ehealthmd.com/content/what-hip-replacement#axzz2IPO6hwoB