Arthritis Treatments

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Arthritis seems to affect almost everyone as they age in years. It can be a bit confusing on how to relieve the pains associated with it. Everyone’s body reacts to pain a bit differently so it is really important to consult your doctor before trying anything. But let me help guide you a bit to the difference between hot and cold treatments.

*Note: I am not a physician and you should always consult one before acting on any advice or guidance*

Most times, sports injuries are treated with cold packs. This works well for bruises, sprains, and other simple trauma. It also is common to apply cold packs to intense flares of pain. It is said that the cold will help numb the pain and reduce swelling.

It is a good idea to keep the ice times to 10-15 minutes and an equal amount of time warming up. For arthritis pain you must be careful not to apply cold too often and this may in fact cause more problems.

But it seems that warm treatments are recommended to the majority of arthritis sufferers. This may be because the heat allows muscles, tendons, and ligaments to relax and increases blood circulation.

However, it is not as simple as choosing one or the other. There is a lot of debate on which is more effective and the long term effects of each treatment. Therefore it might be better to do what feels good and try different things.

When heating the problem area, it may be hard to get enough heat deep within without burning the skin. This presents another set of problems. There are products that are designed for each area, such as the hips, with detailed instructions. The hands for example are much easier to heat through than the pelvis and hip region.

For cold treatments you may try using simple cold packs or a frozen microwavable bag like wheat bags. It’s always a good idea to have some fabric between the cold source and your skin to help protect against frost bite or other skin injuries.

There are a variety of heat treatment products such as spas, infrared heating, moist heating, and special arthritis gloves. But for many people the expense of some of these treatments is simply too much. What you can consider is using a wheat bag for treatment. Just remember to follow the instructions on heating it in the microwave. If you visit our page on how to make you own, you will save a lot of money and learn about heating wheat bags.

Unfortunately science hasn’t been able to cure arthritis but there are a variety of things we can do to help relieve the symptoms. Consult your doctor and try different things to see what works best for you.