Arthritis Answers

What Is The Best Pain Relief For Arthritis?

It is important to consider pain relief when you are suffering from arthritis, although most people believe this only involves taking medicine or remedies. But there are a number of useful ideas and tips that can help make your daily life much more comfortable that don't involve medicine or drugs. There are a number of creams and medications that can help with arthritis pain, and they are discussed throughout this site, but in reality the best treatment is simply to avoid the things that cause you pain.

Try to consider your own personal comfort in everything you do as much as possible, even thinking about the products you use to clean your house or the clothes you buy. Consider a tee shirt for example. Whilst it might seem like an ideal item of clothing to throw on during your relaxation time, the motion of putting a tee shirt or sweater on requires you to lift your arms high above your head, something that could prove painful to an arthritis sufferer. Consider buying more button up shirts or tee shirts which require much less arm movement. Women should also consider this when purchasing items such as bras; try to find one that fastens at the front rather than the back.

When cleaning your house, try to use steps to reach high places and use stools or small seats to reach parts of the house that are lower down but hard to reach such as toilets and bath tubs. Bending of the back can cause strain on a number of muscles throughout your body and you need to minimise uncomfortable movement as much as possible. Consider getting a reacher or something similar to help with grabbing items that are stored high up or even with tasks such as doing the laundry.

Line your bathroom with as much non slip material as you can, especially in areas such as the bath or the shower. You can buy specially adapted baths these days which 'lift' you in causing you minimal discomfort, but these aren't cheap. A free alternative is to sit down on a stool next to the bath, hoist your legs over the tub and gently and carefully slide yourself in, doing the same motion in reverse when getting out. If possible, try to use cubicle showers are these will allow you to simply walk in and out. Again, don't place the shower head too high above your head as the continual reaching up will cause you pain. When brushing your teeth, invest in an electric toothbrush. Sonic toothbrushes are probably the best on the market these days and they don't cost much more than your average electric. They take all of the strain out of brushing your teeth. Likewise, electric razors will make that task much easier also.