Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Myths About Arthritis And The Joint Pain That You Can Possibly Live With


Joint pain as a result of arthritis affects one in five adults in America. Till this date, the management of osteoarthritis has only focused on pain relief. There is no specific drug that can get rid of arthritis joint pain effectively. This is in contrast to rheumatoid arthritis, in which there are several treatments that have proved to prevent the bone degeneration and joint damage if treated properly at an early stage.

Therefore, it is more promising in tackling a joint problem arising from rheumatoid arthritis than osteoarthritis.

Nevertheless, there are various alternative approaches to reduce and mitigate the symptoms of arthritis pain. And in doing so this may also improve the condition. Most of the elderly people have put up too long with joint pain caused by osteoarthritis.

They have suffered and live with arthritis as a matter of fact. This is something that they believe there is nothing that can be done about it. Joint pain arising from arthritis can affect any part of the joints from the jaw, neck, hip, knee down to the ankle. While this condition progresses very slowly and the pain comes and goes, it does affect the daily life of the patients tremendously.

There are many non-pharmacological treatment options in the market now. These have studied, tested and made available to patients. It does help in their pain relief efforts generally. In fact, these alternative treatments can be adopted to ease the discomfort caused by arthritis. That maybe chronic in nature. The myths that arthritis pain is something that has to be tolerated can no longer be validated further. Much efforts are required in educating the masses. There is a need to understand the many factors that contribute to osteoarthritis.

These factors can be categorized into conditions that are not modifiable and conditions that are modifiable. Factors that are not modifiable include hereditary, family history, sex, age and genetic predisposition. On the other hand, there are many non-pharmacological treatment options that are suitable to treat and relieve joint pain arising from conditions such as injury, obesity, muscle and skeletal deficiency and postural misalignment.

Coupled with the above factors, arthritis pain is further compounded from inactivity through the course of aging. It is also a common belief that exercising may worsen the condition resulting in more painful joints. And as one ages, the inactivity level also increases over time. This seems to be the rule of the day. A vicious cycle thus begins whereby inactivity weakens the muscle and skeletal system leading to cartilage breakdown. This worsens the condition. Dreadfully, the inactivity fulfills the common self-made belief that arthritis is an unavoidable wear and tear disease associated with aging!

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