5 Lifestyle Tips for Managing Arthritis Pain

Are arthritis flare-ups disrupting your daily schedule? Our board-certified orthopedic surgeons at Alpine Orthopedics and Sports Medicine provide compassionate arthritis care to relieve your discomfort. Our doctors also offer guidance on how to reduce pain and other disabling symptoms of arthritis. 

Having a doctor’s care for your arthritis is only a part of the solution. Living with arthritis requires making a commitment to healthy habits. 

How you take care of yourself helps control your arthritis. You’re in the driver’s seat. The following are five lifestyle tips for keeping your arthritis symptoms under control. 

1. Maintain a healthy weight

Your weight is a significant factor when it comes to arthritis symptoms. Maintaining a healthy weight for your height and body type will make you feel better and have fewer painful symptoms. 

Excess weight places your joints under more pressure than they’re designed to bear. For every 10 pounds you lose, you shed 40 pounds of pressure on your knees. 

Furthermore, you may not realize that fat tissue generates inflammation in your body. When your joint swells and hurts, it’s inflamed. Long-term inflammation has adverse effects. When you reduce stored fat, you reduce inflammation in your body. 

Maintaining a healthy weight helps you retain your cartilage — the protective cushion between the bones in your joints. Weight challenges hasten the breakdown of cartilage and can lead to premature arthritis. 

2. Stretch daily 

Stretching helps bring a fresh blood supply with important nutrients to your joints. We can provide you with recommended stretches that help maintain your range of motion and enable you to perform everyday tasks like pulling a sweater over your head or buckling your seatbelt. 

3. Get regular exercise 

If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, it’s time to get moving. Sedentary living is risky for your health. Sitting for most of the day increases the risk of death from all causes. 

If you haven’t been exercising regularly, start out slowly under our supervision. Choose low-impact exercise, such as water aerobics, yoga, walking, swimming, and cycling. Water exercise is especially helpful if you’re struggling with your weight because it removes the stress on your joints. Gradually increase your exercise until you get at least 150 minutes of moderate cardio exercise per week. 

4. Change your diet: Avoid inflammatory foods

Changing your eating patterns can be challenging. Certain foods you’re used to eating likely lead to more inflammation in your body. Do you eat cereal, cookies, pastries, cakes, and snack foods like granola bars? These processed foods contain extra sugar which increases inflammation. 

Do you love hamburgers, bacon, sausage, or lunch meat? Red and processed meats increase inflammation and are filled with fat. Perhaps French fries are a favorite food. It’s time to turn the page. Knowing that the foods you eat are worsening your arthritis pain is a great motivator to change your dietary strategy.

Consider teaming up with a dietician or nutritionist. Eat a leafy green salad every day with a low-sugar and fat-free dressing. Load your plate with fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Instead of red meat, try fish filled with omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, or mackerel. 

5. Use ice or heat

Are you stiff in the morning? Applying heat to your joint helps bring fresh blood flow to your joints and relaxes your muscles. Ice numbs the sensitive area around your joint and temporarily blocks pain signals. 

In addition to your proactive steps to manage your arthritis, we provide expert medical care for your condition. We can administer a steroid shot if your arthritis flare-up is severe. We also can prescribe physical therapy to restore lost range of motion and ease pain and swelling. We may recommend platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment for knee arthritis. We also perform joint replacement surgery if conservative methods haven’t helped. 

Call Alpine Orthopedics and Sports Medicine or book an appointment through our online portal today.