What are the care measures for arthritis?

The core of arthritis care actually cannot avoid these three things: "reducing the load on the joints, stabilizing the inflammation, and preventing the disease from progressing." It is not as simple as just putting a plaster on the pain as everyone thinks. I had previously met a 52-year-old patient with knee osteoarthritis. At first, he believed the saying that "the pain in the joints will get better with time." He climbed twenty floors every day to do leg exercises. However, within half a year, the pain was so severe that he couldn't even walk through the vegetable market downstairs. Later, he adjusted his nursing methods and slowly recovered.

Nowadays, opinions on whether you should exercise for arthritis are very polarized. Some people say you should move and others say you should stay still. In fact, it depends on the situation. If you are in the acute stage and your joints are red, swollen and painful when touched, don't force yourself to move. Just do it at this time. At this time, the joints are like peaches that have just been swollen. The more you rub them, the faster they will rot. At this time, try to walk and stand as little as possible. If necessary, wear a knee pad or use a cane to share the pressure. Don't think that using a cane is embarrassing. It can reduce the pain to the joints more than anything else. When the redness and swelling have subsided and reached the remission stage, you can't lie still every day. The muscles have atrophied and it will make it harder to hold the joints. Just choose exercises that don't wear the joints very much, such as swimming, sitting on a chair and straightening the legs. The patient just mentioned later followed the community rehabilitation team to practice silent squats for 15 minutes every day. The force on the knees is small and the thigh muscles can be strengthened. Now he can go to the park for half a day without any problem.

When it comes to reducing the burden on joints, we have to mention weight management. Think about it, for every pound of weight, your knees have to bear three more pounds of weight when walking. If you gain ten pounds, it is equivalent to carrying thirty pounds of rice on your knees every day. Can the wear and tear not be faster? Many patients have only lost five or six pounds in weight, and the frequency of joint pain has been much reduced. Also, don’t let your joints get cold all the time. Many young people face air-conditioning blowing directly on their knees in the summer and wear knee-length pants to look good in autumn and winter. In fact, joints are particularly sensitive to temperature. After being cold, blood vessels constrict and inflammatory metabolites cannot be discharged, which doubles the probability of pain. Putting a small blanket on your knees in air-conditioned rooms or wearing thin knee pads in winter are small things that don’t take much time but are particularly effective.

As for the food taboo issue that everyone is arguing about, there is actually no need to worry too much. Except for gouty arthritis, which requires strict control of the intake of high-purine foods, ordinary osteoarthritis does not require special taboos on seafood, beef and mutton. Instead, you need to eat more calcium and protein-rich foods to help bones and muscles become stronger. There are also many people who are afraid of being addicted to painkillers and struggling to bear the pain even if they are sweating. In fact, as long as they follow the doctor's instructions and take the amount, there will not be too many side effects.

In fact, there is no universal formula for arthritis care. Everyone's condition and joint conditions are different. Follow the doctor's plan and adjust slowly. Don't believe in those "one-step cure for arthritis" folk remedies. Pay more attention to the feeling of your joints, and you can basically maintain a good condition.