Saturday, January 3, 2009

Osteoarthritis - What Can You Personally Do To Get Relief?

By Ralph Ferriss

Unfortunately there is no cure for osteoarthritis, but there is osteoarthritis pain relief for the sufferers. The relief of pain is largely dependent on the seriousness of the condition and the amount of damage that has been caused to the joints. Doctors can give strong medication and there can be various types of natural treatments, but lifestyle changes help the most for osteoarthritis pain relief.

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.

In the beginning you can just do resistive water exercises, elastic band, free weights and exercise machines so that you can determine which osteoarthritis treatment is the best for you. Other kinds of physical therapy exercises are extremely helpful like swimming, water aerobics, walking, bicycling, cross-country skiing, strengthening and stretching.

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.

Drugs

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.

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