Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition which results in joints becoming stiff and painful. It’s a form of arthritis and is the most commonly occurring type in the UK. Although there is no cure for this painful condition, there are a number of helpful treatment and lifestyle changes you can make to ease the symptoms.
Our experts at Pain Management Wales have years of experience helping patients with osteoarthritis and know that the following is likely to help the vast majority of suffers.
1. Do more exercise
Regardless of your age or level of fitness, an increase in exercise will help reduce your pain. Physical activity should be focused on strengthening muscles and reducing your weight, so concentrate on low to medium intensity activities. Different exercise will help different parts of the body, so discuss your specific problems with an expert to create a customised training plan that’s right for you.
2. Hot packs
Medically known as thermotherapy, heat packs can be used to relieve stiffness in joints. The most common way of trying this at home is through a hot water bottle. The extent to which this will help depends on many different variants, so if a hot water bottle doesn’t produce the desired results, try a cold water bottle instead! Cryotherapy, using very cold water to reduce pain, is also well established in the medical profession, although somewhat less known by patients.
3. Manual therapy
Stiffness and pain can be caused by not moving your joints, so manual therapy is often the first technique experts will suggest to help their patients. It offers several different stretching techniques to help keep muscles active, and the strengthening of the muscles means they become more resistant to stiffness. These are often easy exercises that you can practise anywhere.
At Pain Management Wales, we provide help and advice for anyone who is suffering from long term injuries and diseases, from a trapped nerve to osteoarthritis. Our team of experts has years of experience, so contact them today to find out more.
