You can learn ways to cope with arthritis symptoms and make lifestyle changes that may reduce pain and improve joint function and your mood. Lifestyle changes such as increasing physical activity and exercise and reducing excess body weight can have the greatest effect on osteoarthritis.
Exercise. Exercise is very important for you to avoid losing muscle mass around your joints. Thus, physical activity can help you maintain or even develop your muscles and thus relieve your joints. So doing certain movements can relieve your pain and also, in some cases, limit the progression of joint damage.
Adopting a "good-health attitude" and healthy habits, such as eating a balanced diet, staying at a healthy weight, and getting enough sleep, will make you feel better and help you stay active. When you think in a positive way, you may be more able to: Care for yourself and handle the challenges of arthritis.
Researchers try to group coping responses rationally, empirically by factor analysis, or through a blend of both techniques. In the early days, Folkman and Lazarus split the coping strategies into four groups, namely problem-focused, emotion-focused, support-seeking, and meaning-making coping.
High-Intensity Exercises – For those with knee osteoarthritis, high-intensity exercises such as sports and deep lunges can exacerbate the condition.
“Low-impact exercises, like walking, cycling or using an elliptical machine are smart choices,” says Dr. Zikria. “If you run, play basketball or do other high-impact activities, avoid hard surfaces and don't do it every day.” Multiple studies show that mild to moderate exercise is beneficial for people with arthritis.
Low-impact aerobic activities do not put stress on the joints and include brisk walking, cycling, swimming, water aerobics, light gardening, group exercise classes, and dancing.
Eating a balanced diet rich in plants, fiber, and anti-inflammatory fats, such as those that the Mediterranean diet includes, can help people living with osteoarthritis to maintain a healthy weight. This will help to ease symptoms, such as pain and swelling.
Potential Consequences. Pain, reduced mobility, side effects from medications and other factors associated with osteoarthritis can lead to health complications that are not caused by the disease itself. Painful joints, especially in the feet, ankles, knees, hip or back, make it harder to exercise.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is known to be a painful condition, but there are many other effects of this progressive disease. These include stiffness and difficulty moving, and loss of muscle tone, strength and stamina.
Making lifestyle changes can decrease your risk of getting some types of arthritis or making arthritis worse. Extra weight puts more stress on joints.
Stiffness, swelling, and pain in your joints from osteoarthritis (OA) should not keep you from your favorite activities. There is a common myth that being active could make your joint pain symptoms worse, but the opposite is true!
There are many health conditions that can lead to social isolation, including osteoarthritis. Older people with osteoarthritis may have a hard time moving around, and they may have other co-occurring conditions such as anxiety and depression. These people are also physically inactive and unable to care for themselves.
The most common triggers of an OA flare are overdoing an activity or trauma to the joint. Other triggers can include bone spurs, stress, repetitive motions, cold weather, a change in barometric pressure, an infection or weight gain.
Swimming can be a good choice of exercise if you have arthritis because it: stimulates blood circulation and can reduce muscle stiffness and ease pain. helps to maintain and build strength and cardiovascular fitness. can help make your joints more flexible and.
Aerobic Exercise for Osteoarthritis
Try to get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week. This could be 30 minutes, five times a week. If you can't spare a half-hour, break it up into 10-minute chunks throughout the day. You can start with short, brisk walks, climbing up and down stairs, or riding a stationary bike.
Examples of aerobic exercises that are easy on joints include walking, bicycling, swimming and water aerobics. Try to work up to 150 minutes of somewhat hard aerobic exercise every week. You can exercise 10 minutes at a time if that's easier on your joints.
Avocados are also rich in the carotenoid lutein. Unlike most fruits, avocados are a good source of vitamin E, a micronutrient with anti-inflammatory effects. Diets high in these compounds are linked to decreased risk of the joint damage seen in early osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritic joints have low levels of aggrecan, proteoglycan, type-II collagen, and runt-related transcription factor 1(RUNX1).
There are many different conceptualizations of coping strategies, but the five general types of coping strategies are problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, social support, religious coping, and meaning making.