5 Best Practices for Navigating Arthritis

Your world seems to be shrinking thanks to achy and stiff joints that just aren’t up to your usual activities. This complaint is common among the millions of Americans who are dealing with arthritis. Joint disease affects about 58.5 million adults in the United States, but a recent study presented by the Arthritis Foundation suggests that this number is more like 91 million.

No matter the final tally, suffice it to say that there are a lot of people who are in the same boat as you and they’re trying to figure out ways to navigate the world of arthritis.

To help, the experienced team of primary care providers at Midwest Regional Health Services thought it would be a good idea to present some best practices for managing this chronic disease. With a little effort on your part and comprehensive care on ours, our goal is to help improve your quality of life when you have arthritis.

A quick word about arthritis

The term arthritis is really a catchall category for more than 100 conditions that lead to joint pain and inflammation. Some of the more common types include:

• Osteoarthritis (OA)
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
• Psoriatic arthritis (PsA)
• Gout
• Fibromyalgia

Of this list, OA is, far and away, the most common driver of joint pain. 

No matter the type, the first thing to know is that there’s no cure for arthritis, in all its many forms, which means management is key.

Tips for living with arthritis

Now let’s get into the best practices we want to share for dealing with arthritis, which include:

1. Exercise

If we were to choose one step to take when you have arthritis, it would be a literal one. While exercise might seem counterintuitive when your joints are stiff and in pain, moving around is one of the best ways to not only relieve the discomfort, but also slow the progression of degenerative forms of the disease, namely OA.

Joints are designed to move, so we want you to increase, not decrease, your activity levels. 

2. Lose weight is applicable

Each person’s joints are designed to carry a certain amount of weight and when you exceed that, you can exacerbate arthritis. In fact, carrying extra pounds can lead to premature OA and speed up the disease.

3. Use hot and cold therapies

A great way to manage your arthritis symptoms is to use hot and cold therapies. The heat can warm up stiff joints while icing can reduce inflammation. So, you might think of a warm shower in the morning to get your joints moving and then applying ice after you move around to prevent inflammation.

4. Use support

People with arthritis often benefit from assistive devices, such as braces, shoe inserts, canes, etc. We’re happy to sit down with you to discuss which assistive devices will benefit you most and keep you active.

5. Get the right arthritis team in your corner

Arthritis can be a moving target as some forms are progressive while others are intermittent. So, it’s important to have a good medical team in your corner that understands the nature of these complex conditions. The team here at Midwest Regional Health is a great option and we've helped many patients to improve their quality of life, despite their arthritis diagnosis.

If you want to learn more or you’d like a more personalized plan for managing your arthritis, we invite you to contact us at 402-745-1145 to schedule an appointment at our offices in Omaha or Gretna, Nebraska, today.