Treating conditions which cause chronic pain is never as simple as popping the occasional pill to ease the sensation. Life isn’t that kind. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition which causes swelling in the joints. This swelling causes pain and loss of mobility and unless positive steps are taken to counteract this condition it’s very possible you’ll lose mobility in those joints entirely. There are over 200 kinds of arthritis and the condition on the whole is a responsible for a lot of people losing the ability to get around on their own.
There are a lot of medicinal treatments which can ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and your doctor should be your first port of call when it comes to treating the condition. As with most of the more potent drugs which can be prescribed, the medications which are so effective at treating rheumatoid arthritis can come with a set of nasty side effects.
This shouldn’t be a reason for you to avoid these treatments all together but it should give you pause for thought. There are a lot of things you can do yourself which will help ease the worst of the symptoms and allow you to keep your mobility. The main one is exercise.
It can be really easy to stop exercising when suffering from rheumatoid arthritis as initially it might make any pain you’re experiencing worse. However, persistent studies have shown that by adopting fairly gentle exercise routines and then sticking too them you can help to maintain your mobility and ease any pain. The trick is to pick a low impact exercise and not to overdo it; too much exercise will just make the damage a lot worse.
A great idea is water aerobics as it’s fantastic for moving the whole body but doesn’t create as much strain on the joints because the water supports a lot of your weight!
Give it a go and let us know what you think.
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