Introduction to Arthritis

Arthritis is a joint related disease which is very painful for the patients. It occurs due to inflammation of the joints which leads to pain and stiffness of the joints. This disease can be placed into two headings-Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent one and it gets worse with the aging process and also wear and tear on the cartilage of the joints. The Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the joints thinking them as foreign tissues within the body. The common medical advice for Arthritis is anti-inflammatory medications and painkillers if the patient has to be taken care at home for Arthritis.

Remedies for Arthritis Management at Home

• The first and the foremost remedy to overcome Arthritis is by reducing the body weight to the recommended level and maintain it on the manageable level. Any amount of extra weight is a pressure on knees, hip and feet then leading to Rheumatoid arthritis. The weight loss will lead to improvement of mobility, decrease in pain and prevention of further damage in joints.
• Regular exercise for the joints will bring flexibility to the joints. The exercises would require regular walking, running, swimming and light yoga asanas for flexible joints.
• Hot and cold therapies for the joints will help in reducing the pain and bringing back the flexibility in the stiff joints. Warm therapy in the morning during bath, electric blanket or moist heating pad in the night will be helpful and cold treatments like ice bag or a bag of frozen vegetables in a towel can applied to the affected joints,that will give much wanted relief.
• Inclusion of right kind of fatty acids in the diet for arthritis patients like omega 3 fatty acids which will lubricate the joints and helps in relieving from pain.
• Regular massage to the arthritis joints will reduce the stiffness and pain in the joint and helps in regulating the movement of the joints for better mobility. It needs to be learnt from a physical therapist and then to be applied at home as self therapy.

These are the remedies to manage arthritis at home with much care and effort.