subject: Joint Pain - Contributing Factors And Effective Ways For Joint Pain [print this page] Joint pain, swelling, and stiffness can alter your lifestyle dramatically, preventing you from participate in the activities you most enjoy. With the onset of pain in our fingers, wrists, knees, hips or virtually any joint in the body, we tend to jump to the conclusion that arthritis has set in.
While joint pain is a natural response to inflammation in the body, it doesn't necessarily mean you have one of the hundred forms of arthritic conditions. Often, pain in your joints simply alerts you to the need for positive changes in your diet, exercise habits, stress level, body weight and even your emotional well being.
Joint Pain - Contributing Factors
Inflammation
Age-related changes in collagen matrix repair mechanisms
Excessive weight.
Activities such as long-distance running performed over many years.
Severe or recurrent joint injury from heavy physical activity.
Skeletal postural defects.
Cold climate and atmospheric pressure changes.
Food allergies such as dairy and wheat.
Hormonal changes, especially in women as menopause approaches.
Overly acidic diet including nightshade vegetables; potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
Effective Ways for Joint Pain
Rubbing ice cubes wrapped in fabric on the joint can help coping with pain.
Hot and cold compresses if applied alternately on aching joints can give some relief.
Giving a warm water bath to the affected joint by mixing Epsom salt with the bath water is a pain relieving technique.
Controlling body weight through dieting and exercises is a necessity for pain control. Sedentary lifestyle is to be avoided. Patients should always keep themselves active but remember also to never over work a joint. This may worsen painful condition
Massaging is a way to relieve pain. But it should be done through gentle strokes and kneading. Aggressive massaging can cause further damage to worn out joints, by damaging the vulnerable tissues around the joint. Hot vinegar, paraffin, castor oil, a mixture of olive oil and kerosene, camphorated mustard oil, heated olive oil, rum atone gold herbal massage oil, and even essential oils like eucalyptus, lavender etc can be used for massaging aching joints.
Rubbing garlic cloves on aching joints and using turmeric paste or roasted sesame seed pack as poultice may also reduce the pain.
If the joint pain becomes too debilitating, the patient may also take recourse to joint replacement surgery.
Exercises
The wall squats are simple exercises for working with sacroiliac (SI) joint pain. The basic position is to stand in neutral (see above) while learning on the wall - feet placed at a distance of a thigh length. Bend the knees at an angle of no less than 90 degrees, keeping the body's weight evenly on both heels.
The kneecaps need to be lined with the 2nd toe of each foot. Remember that the shoulder blades, buttocks, middle back, and shoulder blades should be kept flat on wall at all times while bending and lifting. Repetition: 8 to 12 times, three times a week.
