7 tips for managing arthritis
Stiff, painful joints can be a waking nightmare for millions of people living with arthritis. LISA SALMON finds out what the charity Versus Arthritis suggests
WHILE everyone can feel like they need a good stretch first thing in the morning, for people living with arthritis, waking up with joints that have stiffened overnight can be a big problem.
“Mornings for people with arthritis can be a real challenge,” says Stewart Long, director of services at Versus Arthritis (versusarthritis.org), a charity dedicated to supporting people living with the condition.
“Stiffness in the joints can mean it’s difficult to get out of bed, and once actually out of bed, to stand straight, or even move at all.
“For some people, morning stiffness can be accompanied by pain, which may be severe and occur all over the body, or just in certain joints. With some arthritis conditions, it may feel almost impossible to get out of bed due to the fear of widespread pain starting as soon as a person gets up.”
Typically, people with osteoarthritis can struggle with this for around 30 minutes, while the hallmark for inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis, or RA) is morning stiffness that makes it difficult to move for at least an hour.
It’s thought it occurs due to the long period of inactivity overnight (known as the ‘gel phenomenon’, where the fluid in the joint thickens from the lack of movement during sleep), although another theory suggests that for people with RA, for example, the body releases insufficient amounts of the antiinflammatory hormone cortisol during the night, leading to horribly stiff, sore joints on waking.
If this all sounds painfully familiar, what can you do to help?
Here are seven tips for managing arthritis-related morning stiffness – so you can rise and shine...
1
STRETCH IT OUT
THERE’S no benefit in forcing joints to move. Instead, try to coax them into moving gently, but repeatedly, while you’re in bed.
Don’t get up immediately, and instead stretch gently and do some range-of-motion exercises to warm up your muscles and loosen creaky joints.
By introducing the following exercises at night, you’ll find that being as mobile as possible before you go to sleep will make mornings easier.
■ Knees: Slowly bend and straighten each knee 15 times.
■ Hips: Gently pull your knees to your chest and lower 15 times.
■ Back: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the bed, and roll your knees from side to side for a minute.
“Gentle strengthening and stretching exercises can help to not only get the joints moving, helping to alleviate pain and stiffness, but will also help to build muscle strength to support the joints and nourish the areas where cartilage may be wearing away,” explains Stewart.
2
TAKE EARLY MEDICATION
KEEP your pain or anti-inflammatory medication beside the bed, together with a glass of water and a snack such as crackers (so you’re not taking medication on an empty stomach).
Set your alarm an hour before you need to get up, eat your snack and take the medication, and then roll over for another hour’s sleep, giving the medicine time to work its magic and help ease your morning stiffness and pain.
3
TURN UP THE HEAT
USE electric blankets and hot-water bottles or wheat bags in bed and, once you’re up, have a warm shower or bath, or apply hot pads to very sore joints, as any kind of heat is great for arthritis. Heat improves circulation, relaxes the muscles and soothes the nervous system, which reduces pain.
Try to stay in the bath for 10 to 20 minutes, topping up with warmer water if necessary, while gently moving your joints and massaging them. In the shower, direct the spray to massage stiff, sore joints.
4
GET MOVING
IT MAY be the last thing you feel like doing, but the stronger the muscles around the joints are, the better supported and less painful they’ll be.
Research consistently shows that exercise is beneficial for people living with arthritis, as it strengthens the heart, increases flexibility and mobility, and improves mood.
Versus Arthritis says exercise is one of the best things you can do to improve your symptoms of arthritis, and you shouldn’t be afraid to try something different in your quest to be more active.
“Finding the balance between rest and exercise is important,” adds Stewart.
5
DRESS SMART
ARRANGE your clothes for the morning the night before, to help you get dressed with minimal pain and discomfort.
Lay items out ready, and choose coats and jackets with a slippery lining to make them easier to get on and off.
Alternatively, before you get dressed, put your clothes in the dryer for five minutes and then put them straight on.
The warmth from the dryer will
help loosen your joints.
6
GO FOR A WALK
WALKING for 15-20 minutes a day strengthens the muscles that support your joints, and the gentle walking motion helps keep joints – even weight-bearing ones like knees or hips – from getting stiff and weak.
In addition, keeping fit and strong can reduce the amount of time it takes to relieve stiffness and get going in the morning.
So you don’t have to go for a walk when you get up to relieve stiffness – your arthritic joints will become stronger and less stiff in the mornings from the exercise you do during the day.
7
ASK FOR HELP
MORNINGS are often hectic, and much harder when your joints are stiff and painful.
If you’re struggling, ask for help from family or friends – they’ll be pleased to be useful.
“Letting people around you know what you’re experiencing and how it affects you in the morning can be helpful,” says Stewart.
“Asking for help and support where needed is vitally important.”
WE’RE often sold the myth that happiness is a positive feeling that we can somehow chase and achieve.
I think it’s more helpful to think of happiness as living your values and doing what matters to you.
The first step to building a happier life, therefore, is to stop avoiding what you need to do to get there.
There are lots of things that can get in the way: not knowing what we want, not feeling up to making changes, difficult thoughts and feelings.
Although our reasons for putting off doing what’s needed may be understandable, ultimately we have to accept responsibility for making changes.
You can use the following steps to help you along the way. Identify values that are important to you OUR values tell us what we want to stand for in life and what kind of person we want to be.
To identify your values, think about an area of life that is important to you (eg relationships) and think of a few words that describes the kind of person you want to be in this area (for instance, kind, trustworthy, thoughtful). Pick one value to work on now ASK yourself what is your highest priority right now?