Arthritis care methods

Don't put extra burden on the joints, don't indiscriminately stimulate the inflammatory areas, and make precise adjustments according to your own type of arthritis. This is 10 times more effective than randomly taking supplements and following the trend of physical therapy.

I just met 62-year-old Aunt Zhang at the outpatient clinic last week. She has suffered from knee osteoarthritis for three years. She heard from a neighbor in the community that "the more you walk, the more bone spurs will be removed and the pain will go away." She walked 20,000 steps a day despite the pain, and she also baked at home under an infrared lamp for forty minutes every day. When she arrived, her knees were swollen like a steamed bun, and she couldn't even go down the stairs. Later, the nursing plan was adjusted for her. After only two months, she no longer had any pain when going up and down stairs, and she didn't feel any discomfort even after half an hour of daily walking.

Many people ask whether people with arthritis can exercise. In fact, there are some differences in the recommendations of different disciplines: Orthopedics in Western medicine advocates targeted training of muscle strength, such as static squats for those with bad knees, and ankle resistance training for those with bad ankles. By making the surrounding muscles thicker, they can handle most of the pressure on the joints, without having to let the joints directly touch the hard.； Traditional Chinese medicine recommends gentle overall activities for bone injuries, such as slow-motion exercises such as Baduanjin and Tai Chi. There is no need to specifically train a specific muscle. The overall Qi and blood flow can also relieve discomfort. But no matter which viewpoint you take, it is not recommended to carry out exercises despite the pain. Do not touch any activities such as climbing stairs, climbing mountains, squatting, and aerobics that put several times the pressure on the joints when it hurts.

When it comes to reducing the burden on joints, many people's first reaction is to move less, but this is not the case. I have seen many patients lie in bed every day because of pain. In the end, their muscles atrophied and their joints became even more unstable, causing pain when they moved even slightly. In fact, the best state is "being able to move but not exerting force", such as swimming, walking slowly on flat ground, sitting on a chair, straightening and raising your legs. If there is no obvious soreness in the joints when moving, then it will be fine.

There is another question that has been debated for many years: Should arthritis patients keep warm? Actually it really depends on the situation. If you have osteoarthritis and are usually afraid of the cold and feel pain when the air conditioner is blown or when you touch cold water, be careful not to let the cold wind blow directly on your joints. It is okay to wear knee pads in winter. But if you are in the active stage of rheumatoid arthritis and the joints themselves are red, swollen and hot, or if you are in the acute attack stage of gout, if you wrap your knees in thick knee pads and apply hot compresses every day, it will aggravate the spread of inflammation and make the pain worse. There was a young man with gout before. When he had an attack, he heard the elderly at home say that hot compresses can disperse blood stasis. He applied it for one night, but the pain was so bad that he couldn't walk the next day. He went to the hospital and got an analgesic injection to relieve the pain.

As for the issue of taking supplements that everyone is most concerned about, there is no unified answer in the academic community. Take ammonia sugar, for example. According to European and American guidelines, it may be useful for patients with moderate osteoarthritis. Many domestic clinicians also recommend taking it for 3 months to see if it has any effect. If it doesn't help, stop taking it. ； However, some studies believe that the effect of glucosamine is similar to that of a placebo, and there is no need to spend a lot of money to buy imported sugar. There is also calcium supplementation. It is indeed useful for menopausal women and elderly patients with osteoarthritis to supplement some calcium and vitamin D. However, if young gout patients have high blood uric acid, too much calcium supplementation may easily increase the risk of kidney stones. There is really no need to follow the trend. Don’t believe in supplements that “can cure all arthritis”. If such a thing really existed, it would have been included in clinical guidelines long ago and would not be sold on WeChat Moments.

There are some small details that you should pay attention to in your daily life, which can save you a lot of mistakes: For example, don’t sit on a chair that is too short, and the angle of knee bending should not be less than 90 degrees, otherwise the pressure on your knees will increase several times.； Don't carry heavy things with one hand. Use two hands. The center of gravity is stable and the burden on the joints is reduced. ； If you have bad knees, you can save a lot of energy by stepping on your good leg first when going up the stairs and first on your bad leg when going down the stairs. These are practical little experiences I have accumulated from patients over the years, and they are more effective than any big principles.

In fact, there is really no standardized process for arthritis care. After all, everyone’s arthritis type, severity, and body tolerance are different. Your own body feeling is always the most accurate. If your joints hurt for more than two hours after doing a certain action or eating something, don't touch it next time. It's that simple. After all, the purpose of our nursing is not to compete with normal people, but to live every day comfortably, right?