Arthritis and Winters
This article was published on: 04/6/17 7:14 AM
Arthritis affects your body. However, winters and cold weather makes it more complicated to tolerate the pain. The cold and damp weather affects those living with arthritis as climate can create increased pain to joints whilst changes also occur to exercise routines. At most, it may affect symptoms of arthritis pain. Here are some tips to manage your arthritis in winters.
- 1. Keep exercising – As the weather changes and winters come, you may not be able to exercise as properly and swiftly as earlier. However, it is important to keep exercising a little every day. There are many strengthening and range of movement exercises you can do indoor. Strengthening exercises can build the muscles around a weak joint to help keep it stable and range-of-movement exercises can keep arthritic joints mobile.
- 2. Lose weight for low pressure on knees – When we walk, the whole pressure comes to your knees which is three to four times your body weight. It is definitely very hard and tedious to lose weight, but even losing three pounds of weight can take about nine to 12 pounds of pressure off your knees when you walk.
- 3. Keep warm – To keep your aching joints warm during the winters is very important. Warm baths are beneficial in keeping your joints comfortable and it also relieve you from the stiffness and pain of arthritis.
- 4. Keep safe – Be extra careful when walking over snow and ice. Wear shoes with a good grip and walk slowly, taking small and steady steps. You may want to purchase an ice tip attachment for your cane if you use one.
- 5. Consume adequate supply of calcium and vitamin D – Everyone needs calcium and vitamin D for healthy bones. To make vitamin D, we need sunshine which will be hard to find in the upcoming months. Talk to you doctor about calcium and vitamin D supplements. Eating more of egg yolk, soy milk, orange juice and consumption of dairy products could be helpful in boosting your vitamin D content.
- 6. Eating turmeric – Specialists suggest that turmeric helps a lot in treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
- 7. Omega- 3 fatty acids – Eating food rich in Omega- 3 fatty acids at least once a week decreases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. This is because Omega- 3 fatty acids decrease the production of chemicals that spread the chronic joint condition.
