Health News and Information

Physical therapists offer a number of options that may help arthritis. These can include investigating your work habits to see if it’s possible to minimize the stress you put on your body (an ergonomic study), and perhaps relaxing the muscles and tendons surrounding your joints by using ultrasound therapy.
Some physical therapists use transcutaneous nerve stimulation, or TENS, to give temporary relief from pain.
The direct application of heat or cold to an affected joint can provide at least short-term relief. A survey of participants with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis attending a clinic found that 60% of them used warm baths or other forms of heat applied to the skin. Another 22% liked to apply cold to painful areas. This is certainly a low-cost plan, and it is quite safe as long as you follow the generally recommended procedures: keep a towel between your skin and a cold pack, don’t fall asleep on your heating pad, and don’t leave either on your skin for a prolonged period of time.
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Inflamed joints are more easily injured than joints that are not inflamed. Everyone who has rheumatoid arthritis (RA) must learn how to protect his or her joints with special attention directed toward the joints in the hands and wrists since these are particularly vulnerable to injury during daily activity.
Joint protection involves more than a list of things to do and not to do; it is a philosophy that should be incorporated into one’s daily routine. At first the strategies may seem awkward or inefficient, and having to stop and think about how you move before you move can seem bothersome. With practice, however, these tactics will become routine. Joint protection will become second nature to you.
After your arthritis has improved, you should continue to follow the principles of joint protection. Your reward will be decreased pain and stiffness as well as preservation of the best possible joint function.
An occupational therapist can help you understand these principles of joint protection and help you apply them to your particular situation. Ask your physician to recommend an occupational therapist to you, especially if you’re having difficulty putting these principles into practice.
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You’re exhausted and hungry after a long day and suddenly realize there’s nothing in the kitchen – so you rush out to get to the supermarket before it closes. Once there, you’re overwhelmed by the rows and rows of colorful, tempting foods – potato chips, ice cream, ready-to-eat fried chicken, every food you know is “bad” for you. And the only things you can think of that are healthy seem as if they would take forever to make. You’re hungry and confused, and you just can’t think of much that is good for you. If only you’d made a shopping list!
Sometimes the simplest preparation tactics can avert disaster: You’re certainly never more vulnerable than when you’re wandering around the supermarket hungry! In this case, as in most others as well, the most obvious preventive measure is the best: Make up a shopping list, and then stick to what’s on it. You’ll develop the strength to say no to the unhealthy stuff if you make your list an ironclad guide. If it’s not on it, don’t buy it!
Don’t keep foods you don’t want to eat in the house. Again, it sounds too obvious to bear stating, but if you don’t keep unhealthy foods, you won’t eat them. Plan ahead by ridding your shelves of these foods now, so they’re not there to tempt you.
Another way to plan ahead is to remember our exercise advice, as well as our relaxation advice, and then schedule time for both in your day. It’s your choice: Loll around in front of the television, or take an invigorating walk. Fall into bed and lie awake with a lot on your mind, or spend 10 minutes quieting your mind with the help of our relaxation-response technique. You’ll truly be set up for success when you’re prepared, ahead of time, with these antidotes to tension and anxiety.
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