Posted by Joint pain can be debilitating and makes just basic movements tough to do. Your joints will become stiff. If you suffer from joint pain, you will want to know how you can relieve yourself of this without succumbing to prescription drugs.
Joint pain is often treated with painkillers, but medication comes with side effects that you might want to avoid. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can relieve joint pain without using medication.
Lose Weight
The amount of joint pain that you feel can be severely impacted by your weight. The more weight you are carrying, the heavier the load on the joints.
This will increase the pressure on the joints and nerves which will increase the pain you feel. This is particularly important if you suffer from pain in your hips, feet, and knees.
When you reduce your weight, you will generally feel a lessening of your joint pain. Of course, this will not remove the joint pain completely depending on the condition that causes this. However, there are some people who suffer from joint pain which is directly caused by their weight and doing this will eliminate the pain.
Get More Exercise
This does not mean that you have to hit the gym every day, but physical movement will help your joint pain. Additionally, exercise will help you lose weight which is also important. You do need to be careful with certain exercises. Any weight-bearing exercise such as running will be damaging and should be avoided.
You should look at some low-impact exercises instead. Swimming and water aerobics are considered the best option as they will not impact the joints negatively. Of course, you should talk to your doctor before you start any exercise routine.
Use Hot and Cold Therapy
Hot and cold therapy is simple but very effective when it comes to joint pain. Long, warm baths or showers in the morning will help to ease the stiffness in the joints which can cause pain. You can also use heat to keep your joints loose in the evening by using a heating pad or electric blanket.
The cold treatment will also relieve the swelling that comes from joint pain. You should wrap a gel pack or a bag of frozen peas in a towel and place it on the joint. This will generally provide quick pain relief.
Try Acupuncture
Acupuncture is becoming a mainstream therapy which is prescribed by a number of pain experts. Even the World Health Organization recommends this as a treatment for over 100 different conditions. This ancient medical treatment involves the inserting of thin needles into specific points on the body.
If you are going to try acupuncture, you will need to find a licensed and certified practitioner. You may also want to talk to your doctor about a recommendation as there might be a practitioner that your doctor knows that provides good results. The number of sessions you have to have will vary depending on the joint pain
that you have and the cause of it.
