Thursday, January 1, 2009

Try Self-Treatment For Osteoarthritis Pain Relief

By Ralph Ferriss

Osteoarthritis is an extremely painful form of arthritis in the joints. There are prescription medications available to help sufferers cope. There are also natural medicines used to reduce the severity of the pain. However, as of right now there is no cure. One of the best ways to deal with osteoarthritis is to make changes in your life that can diminish the affects of the disease.

Strengthen and Stretch Your Muscles and Joints

Stronger muscles means less stress on joints and that can greatly reduce the pain suffered from osteoarthritis. Daily exercise is the key to keeping your joints flexible and strong and your muscles toned so that they better protect your joints. As with any exercise routine it is important for you to consult your doctor to see which exercises are safe and beneficial for you.

Strength training and stretching is the key. Water exercises, such as water aerobics or swimming are always a good choice. Resistance training is also very helpful. You can use exercise machines, weights or bands for this. There are a variety of other exercises that can be done like cycling, walking and aerobics.

Be Considerate of Your Joints

It is important to inculcate certain changes in your life if you are suffering from osteoarthritis. You should just avoid doing activities which put extra stress on the affected joints, whether it is your back, hip, fingers or knees. If you are forced to perform tasks that do not give your arthritic joints a rest, just make sure that you rest often so that your joints can get a rest too.

Other Therapeutic Options

For osteoarthritis pain relief alternating heating pads and ice packs can be used especially for athletes and people who have sports injuries. The therapy soothes your joint pain and stiffness. If the osteoarthritis is at an advanced stage, self-treatment options are not effective and other options for osteoarthritis pain relief have to be considered.

Medication

For severe osteoarthritis sufferers prescription anti-inflammatory medications such as Celebrex have been used to relieve pain. These can completely relieve all osteoarthritis pain. However, there are serious side effects. In 2004 some of these medications were pulled because they were proven to cause strokes and heart attacks. Another option is a milder anti-inflammatory medication that contains no steroids. However, these can not offer 100% relief from the pain that osteoarthritis sufferers experience. - 14915

About the Author:

No comments: