Arthritis Treatment - How to Reduce Your Arthritis Pain and Stiffness to Manageable Level

The word arthritis means inflammation of the joints. Arthritis is a crippling condition associated with the inflammation of a muscle joint. The inflammation is often caused by the rubbing of the bones. There are two main types of arthritis:

• Osteoarthritis is caused by degeneration of the cartilage in the joints (the cartilage between the bones wears away). Osteoarthritis usually affects older people although it can develop in a younger person, especially where joints have been damaged by injury.

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) a systemic disease caused by abnormality in the body's immune system making it to work improperly and therefore leading to inflammation of the joints. It is an autoimmune disease of the joints (usually).

However, you can learn to live with this disease without permitting it to rule your life. To ease the pain while continuing your daily life, here are some things you can do. Arthritis can be managed through medication, regular exercise (preferably walking), rest, weight-management, nutrition, or in some cases, surgery. Arthritis is a chronic disease that lasts for a long time and possibly for the rest of one's life. Treatments will probably change over time and medication may be adjusted.

• Positive mental outlook and the support of family are essential for performance of daily activities. Stay focused on the positive things in life.

• Try to maintain your social life, laugh with your friends, and keep doing the things you do daily.

• Keep joints warm at night to avoid morning stiffness.

• Practice deep breathing in addition to a regular exercise program. Exercise alleviates arthritis symptoms and improves strength and flexibility. In addition, exercise helps prevent weight gain which makes arthritis pain worse.

• Oily fish is a good source of Vitamins A and D as well as being rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have the power to lessen inflammation in the body, as well as lessen the pain associated with arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis patients usually report improvement in joint pains and inflammation when taking fish oil supplements.

• Honey is useful in arthritic and rheumatic pains when combined with apple cider. Use the cider vinegar and honey treatment for arthritis and also apply cider vinegar externally to painful joints. This entails drinking a glass of water with two teaspoons of cider vinegar and two teaspoons of honey three times a day.

• Raw potato extract is a traditional remedy that has been used for centuries. Wash a medium size potato but do not peel. Be sure it has no green patches. Cut it into thin slices. Lay the slices in a bowl, cover with water and cover the bowl. Leave overnight. Drink the water in the morning.

• Calcium supplements can also help some cases of arthritis. If you prefer not to take supplements you can take calcium in dietary form.

• Glucosamine in combination with chondroitin is a supplement that can help lubricate joints while reducing inflammation and pain in some cases.

• Add several teaspoonfuls of ginger to vegetables, salads or beverages daily.

• Garlic and turmeric both have anti inflammatory properties and can be included in your diet in generous quantities.

Eat grapes regularly as grape skins contain resveratrol. Resveratrol deactivates the Cox-2 enzyme, which produces inflammation at the site of injury or pain.

• Regular diet of bananas, which are rich in potassium and vitamin B6, can be helpful in treating rheumatoid arthritis flare up. Eat only bananas for up to 3 days. Bananas should be ripe, i.e. starting to show brown spots on the skin.

• Practice deep breathing in addition to a regular exercise program. Exercise alleviates arthritis symptoms and improves strength and flexibility. In addition, exercise helps prevent weight gain which makes arthritis pain worse.

The following foods are known to make arthritis worse and should be avoided. You may have to cut them all out of your diet for at least 4 days and then reintroduce them one by one to feel the effects:

Sugar, caffeine, red meat, dairy products, citrus fruits, corn (maize), wheat, salt, artificial sweeteners and other food additives.

Take Control:

Arthritis may limit some of the things you do, but it does not have to control your life. One way to reduce your pain is to build your life around wellness, not pain or sickness. Think of pain as a signal to take positive action rather than an ordeal you have to endure. This means thinking positive thoughts, having a sense of humor (i.e. you can joke about your disability), eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly (e.g. walking), enjoying activities with friends and family, taking your medication properly and practicing relaxation.

Exercise and Arthritis:

For a long time, it was thought that people with arthritis should not exercise because it would damage their joints. Now doctors and therapists know that people with arthritis can improve their health and fitness through exercise without hurting their joints. Along with medicine, rest, acupressure, relaxation techniques and regular exercise can keep your joints in working order so that you can continue your daily activities. Everyone should exercise regularly. But if you have arthritis, it is a must. Exercise enhances the muscles around your joints and reduces the pain in your body. It also acts like lubrication for the joints in your body. It also may help prevent further joint damage. If your joints hurt, you may not feel like exercising. However, if you do not exercise, your joints can become even more stiff and painful. Exercise is beneficial because it keeps your muscles, bones and joints healthy. Be sure, however, that you only exercise within your body's limits.

Psoriatic Arthritis Symptoms

Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic skin condition that causes inflammation of the skin and joints. It is quite common, resulting in patchy, scaly and red areas of skin. The areas that mostly get affected by it are the elbows, knees, near the navel and genital area and the scalp.

This is a particular type of arthritis that takes place in those people who already have psoriasis. A person suffering from psoriatic arthritis will have symptoms of both the skin and joint disorder.

The likelihood of this condition taking place is equal for men and women alike - usually, at the age group of 30-50. For some people the condition may be mild and not as severe as it is for the rest, affecting only a couple of joints.

It is important to be familiar with the symptoms and recognize them when they start showing up, and if they are not treated on time, the symptoms may worsen, resulting in more serious health issues.

The most common symptoms include the effect of psoriatic arthritis over the fingers and toes of a person. Rough, scaly and dry rashes start taking place on areas of the body such as the knees and elbows.

The joints start to swell up which causes great pain and uneasiness. For example, the swelling of the wrists and fingers, knees, ankles and toes would result in the person hardly being able to carry out any of the tasks in daily routine. The fingers and toes may swell up to such an extent that they would appear to be sausage like. Moreover, grayish scales would show up on the scalp and other areas where the condition has taken its toll.

Apart from the swelling up of the joints, the person may also suffer pain in the lower back and buttocks. The nails would get highly affected, becoming pitted.? Upon waking up, the joints would seem to be quite stiff. Also, fatigue and a lethargic feeling are common for people who are suffering from psoriatic arthritis.

Arthritis - An Explanation

Arthritis, which affects the musculoskeletal system, generally refers to the slow erosion over time of the cushioning cartilage that is situated in the area between the bony joints and which normally protects them as they move against each other during normal exercise.

When I was eventually diagnosed with this condition I was told I must have had it for about 15 years although for much of that time I didn't know I had a problem. It is not always immediately apparent even though early arthritic symptoms can sometimes include some stiffness and restriction in movement. By the time it eventually shows up or is diagnosed, often the damage has been done, is irreversible and can only be corrected by surgery.

So prevention is definitely better than cure in this case and needs to involve taking special care to look after the cartilage in your body. As in the case of all living cells, specialised cartilage cells called chondrocytes normally go through a natural and continuous process of dying and being constantly replaced and require the right nutrients and environment to thrive.

In the case of Rheumatoid arthritis or following an injury however, inflammation can arise which produces an environment that is detrimental to and can attack and kill the cartilage cells more quickly than the body can replace them, especially if there aren't enough of the right nutrients available within the body to make joint repair feasible.

Arthritis can be a localized to one or more joints in the body such as the hip, shoulder or knee. Or it can be experienced as a more generalized condition throughout the body as a whole, generally affecting the muscles and soft tissues. Fibromyalgia or inflammatory Rheumatoid Arthritis would be a common type of arthritis under this category, as well as gout and as the condition varies so would the treatment although it is possible to have more than one type of arthritis at the same time requiring several different approaches.

This condition can start as early as infancy or childhood although it is not so common at this stage of life. It is much more common among adults in the over 60's, and shows up mostly in the form of osteoarthritis. As the American population ages, the number of people suffering with it is increasing and it is considered to be more common amongst people who have practised high impact sports for some time, thus increasing the wear and tear on the joints. The prime cause of disability in the United States of America these days is considered to be arthritis.

If you want to help prevent the onset of this debilitating and very common and painful disease I recommend you take the time to follow a few easy and simple, yet possibly life-changing steps.

* Watch your diet and seek to maintain your appropriate ideal weight

* Regularly consume plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit. They are a really good source of vitamins D and C

* Take the time to make sure that there is enough enough calcium in your diet

* Take regular low to medium- impact exercise and take care to reduce the risk of sports injuries

* Natural therapies have also been found to be very useful in both preventing damage and alleviating the pain and discomfort associated with arthritis, even sometimes curing it completely

* Take steps to reduce the level of stress in your life such as taking up meditation or setting aside some restful 'you time'

What Foods Can I Eat If I Have Arthritis?

The link between food and arthritis has been difficult to prove because of the difficulty inherent in study design. However, observations made over the last several decades point to trends that may be important. Multiple studies have suggested that rheumatoid arthritis symptoms could be reproduced by the reintroduction of certain foods and ameliorated by excluding these foods from the diet.

More recently, rheumatoid arthritis has been shown to worsen when there is an excessive amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. Excessive ingestion of feedlot beef, refined cooking oils and margarines result in an increase of inflammatory symptoms. Some evidence has linked the consumption of saturated fats found in whole milk, cheese, as well as other animal products such as red meat and poultry to worsening RA symptoms. (O'Banion DR. J Holistic Med 1982; 4: 49-57)

An interesting connection has been proposed by some researchers that a food allergy to high saturated fat foods, meat, dairy, omega-6 fatty acids, and refined vegetable oils may be responsible for some rheumatoid arthritis flares (Hicklin JA, et al. Clin Allergy 1980; 10: 463-470.)

For centuries, nightshade foods such as potatoes, eggplant, and pepper have been claimed to aggravate arthritis. Firm data here, though, is not compelling. Study design has been a drawback. Doing a randomized double-blind study using foods is exceedingly difficult.

Small studies evaluating the effects of foods in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers have continued to make a case for food being a significant inciting factor in disease. Studies performed by researchers have demonstrated that partial fasting with avoidance of animal fat, refined sugar, citrus fruits, preservatives, coffee, tea, alcohol, salt, and strong spices which were associated with symptoms led to a reduction of symptoms.

Another study published by Beri et al showed that an elimination and rechallenge diet provided significant improvement in 71% of patients tested. (Beri, D, et al Ann Rheum Dis 1988; 47: 69-72)

In another study, Darlington evaluated 70 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. By eliminating foods deemed to provoke symptoms, he was able to eliminate symptoms as well as need for medications in 19% of patients. Darlington also identified foods such as grapefruit, cheese, malt, coffee, beef, eggs, rye, oats, milk, oranges, bacon, tomato, peanuts, cane sugar, butter, lamb, lemon, and soy as causative factors. (Darlington LG. Rheum Dis North Am 1991; 127: 273-285)

A recent study suggested that a diet high in vitamin D such as is found with salmon, tuna, shrimp, sunflower seeds, eggs, and vitamin-D fortified milk may prevent rheumatoid arthritis. (Merlino, LA et al. Arthritis Rheum 2004; 50: 72-77)

The upshot of these studies indicates that perhaps dietary manipulation should be considered as a possible therapeutic intervention. Elimination of all foods believed to be causing symptoms followed by single food reintroductions to determine which foods might be the culprits seems a reasonable course of action. Foods such as corn, wheat, cow's milk, pork, oranges, oats, rye, eggs, beef, coffee, malt, cheese, grapefruit, lemon, tomato, peanuts, and soy seem to be the most common offenders.

In our office we have found the Immunolab assay (Fort Lauderdale, FL) to be useful in excluding food allergies as a potentially important contributing factor to arthritis symptoms.

Statins: A New Hope in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis occurring in people who suffer from recurrent bouts of joint pain, swelling and deformity. Apart from inflammation of the joints, there are abnormal changes in blood vessels in these people which puts them at an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack prematurely and reduction in life-expectancy. Excess number of deaths due to cardiovascular cause were consistently observed in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

A drug that controls the inflammation and also prevents changes in blood vessels will be highly useful in these people. Statins (e.g. lovastatin, simvastatin) have shown lot of promise in this regard.

Statins inhibit an enzyme of the lipid metabolism called as HMG-CoA reductase; therefore they are called as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Process of atherosclerosis i.e. clogging of blood vessels with cholesterol is accelerated in inflammatory arthritis. The levels of good (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol are abnormally low while those of bad (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol are higher in inflammatory arthritis. Statins reduce the low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and inhibit atherosclerosis. As atherosclerosis is the culprit for vascular events like heart attack and stroke, the risk of these diseases is also reduced.

Apart from lowering lipid levels, the statins were found to have anti-inflammatory action in recent studies. In inflammatory arthritis, statins may suppress the inflammatory response of the synovial membrane which lines the joint cavity. Statins act on blood cells like lymphocytes and macrophages which are responsible for inflammation and inhibit the release of harmful chemicals like cytokines from these cells. As inflammation is responsible for clinical features of inflammatory arthritis, statins markedly improve the clinical picture in these patients. Statins not only relieve pain and stiffness, but also retard the ongoing process of joint destruction.

Leung et al found that atorvastatin suppressed immune responses and cytokine release in mice. Abud-Mendoza C et al found that simvastatin showed marked improvement in signs and symptoms in patients with refractory rheumatoid arthritis which was unresponsive to methotrexate, a powerful drug. Similarly, atorvastatin was shown to be highly effective in rheumatoid arthritis in a recent randomized controlled
trial.

Inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis is not confined to the joints only. Low-grade inflammation exists in blood vessels also. This along with malfunction of endothelial cells lining blood vessels may accelerate the atherosclerotic process leading to vascular events such as heart attack at younger age as compared with normal population. Statins suppress this inflammation and inhibit release of harmful free radicals. Statins also improve the function of endothelial cells. Statins also reduce the levels of C-reactive protein, an independent risk factor for heart disease. Thus statins act as protectors against vascular events and may reduce the morbidity due to these diseases.

Statins should be used in rheumatoid arthritis unresponsive to treatment with disease modifying anti-Rheumatic drug (DMARD) as adjuvant therapy. They can also be used in protection against vascular diseases. The existing statins are mainly developed to act as lipid modulating agents rather than anti-inflammatory drugs. Further research is required for developing new statins who have more potent anti-inflammatory action. Recently, a new statin, Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) has been found to have potent anti-inflammatory effects. Further trials are required to prove its efficacy and safety.

Thus statins will play increasingly important role in management of inflammatory arthritis due to their multiple benefits. They improve the quality of life by relieving the symptoms of arthritis and at the same time protect a person from premature death due to cardiovascular causes.

References:

1. McInnes IB, McCarey DW, Sattar N (2004) Do statins offer therapeutic potential in inflammatory arthritis? Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 63, 1535-37.:

2. Leung BP, Sattar N, Crilly A, Prach M, Mccarey DW, Payne H, Madhok R et al (2003)A Novel Anti-Inflammatory Role for Simvastatin in Inflammatory Arthritis. The journal of immunology 170, 1524-30.:

3. Abud-Mendoza C, de la Fuente H, Cuevas Orta E, et al (2003) Therapy with statins in patients with refractory rheumatic diseases: a preliminary study. Lupus 12, 607-611.:

4. McCarrey DW, McInnes IB, Madhok R, et al (2004) Trial of atorvastatin in Rheumatoid Arthritis (TARA), double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 363, 2015-2021.:

5. Mason J C, Ahmed Z, Mankoff R, Lidington E A, Ahmad S, Bhatia V, et al (2002) Statin-induced expression of decay-accelerating factor protects vascular endothelium against complement-mediated injury. Circulation Research 91, 696-703.

Health and Fitness: Arthritis Article Category

Foot Arthritis - How To Treat It?

Foot arthritis could be described as one of the more common forms of arthritis. The problem with the foot is that it consists of 28 bones and 30 joints, of which any are susceptible to arthritis. If arthritis develops in any of these joints, its going to affect the way you walk, run and move in general. The joints in the foot which are more commonly affected are: the big toe, the ankle, the mid foot and the hind foot joint.

The most common form of arthritis which develops in the foot is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the result of getting older, and essentially wear and tear on the joints and cartilage. The cartilage wears down, and the bones rub together resulting in pain and swelling.

Traumatic arthritis is a common form of osteoarthritis that develops in the foot of a patient following some form of severe injury. This can develop in the foot even when the injury was treated correctly, and given time to recover fully. The most common forms of traumatic foot arthritis are a torn ligament, broken bone or severe sprain.

There are various symptoms and indications of foot arthritis, which should alert the sufferer to the condition immediately. These symptoms include swelling, tenderness, pain, stiffness and reduced mobility of the affected joint. All these symptoms will eventually lead to a difficulty in walking.

For a doctor to properly diagnose foot arthritis, a serious of tests and physical examinations will need to be performed. The doctor will also require information about your health and lifestyle to give clues on the complexity of the condition. The next step is to perform a walking analysis. In performing this walking analysis, the doctor will measure your stride and test your ankle and foot strength. Certain diagnostic imaging tests may also be required to further diagnose your condition- theses may include and X-Ray, CT or MRI scan.

After fully evaluating your foot arthritis, your doctor/physician will devise the most suitable treatment plan. There are many non-surgical treatments available, these include:

Taking anti-inflammatory medication

Steroid injection

Foot brace or cane usage

Ankle and foot support usage

Physical therapy

The final treatment option is surgery, and is generally reserved as a 'last resort' when all other treatment methods have failed. The key to effectively treating arthritis is early diagnosis. Don't ignore those sensations of stiffness and soreness; see a doctor as soon as possible, so that you have the best chance of treating your foot arthritis.