We here at Anytime Physio understand how difficult it is to live with arthritis. Not only does it make it difficult for you to move around and stay active, but it can also be quite painful. This is especially true during the winter, as the cold aggravates arthritis and causes it to act up. Indeed, sudden drops in temperature can cause your joints to swell and increase the pressure on your nerves.
Luckily, there are things you can do to deal with this problem. To help you out with all of this, we’ve prepared a list of the best ways to deal with arthritis during the winter!
Dress Appropriately
Let’s start with the most obvious way to deal with the cold. Bundling up and dressing appropriately to deal with the cold weather will protect you from the elements and lessen the pain that you feel that’s caused by the drop in temperature.
Now, there are many ways to go about doing this. What you have to remember is that covering up specific areas will undoubtedly lessen the pain you feel. Wearing gloves will also soothe your aching hands, so that might be a good place to start. Other than gloves, wearing thick socks will help keep your feet warm and help keep the pain at a manageable level.
Stay Active
Aside from staying warm, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re regularly staying active. Keep in mind that your joints will start to hurt more due to inactivity and will start to stiffen up and get sore. We understand that exercising with arthritis can be a little difficult, but you won’t really have to do anything too extreme.
Going on a morning walk will go a long way when it comes to warming up your muscles and joints to prevent them from becoming stiff. If you find it too difficult to go out on walks, you can also try other activities like biking or indoor swimming.
Manage Your Weight
Speaking of staying active, did you know that managing your weight will also lessen the pain and discomfort associated with arthritis? This is because there will be less weight and pressure on your joints.
Losing weight can be quite tricky. Beyond just exercising, you’ll want to adopt a healthier diet to make weight management go more smoothly. Remember, do not make any major dietary changes without first consulting your doctor, as it can affect your overall well-being.
Get Enough Vitamin D
While this may seem out of place, getting enough vitamin D actually also has an effect on arthritis. In fact, a study has found that vitamin D deficiency is common in people with arthritis and can be linked to musculoskeletal pain.
There are many ways to get vitamin D, and fatty fish is a good source of it. For people who don’t like eating fish, however, you can still opt to take vitamin D supplements.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article proves to be useful when it comes to helping you deal with joint pain during the winter. While all of the things listed above will help, be sure to go about it all in a safe way. The last thing you want to do is to push yourself too hard when you’re exercising or trying to manage your weight and end up affecting your health. To be extra safe, be sure to clear things with your doctors before trying out any of these arthritis winter solutions.
If you’re looking for online physiotherapy consultation in Brisbane to help deal with your arthritis, we’re more than happy to help you. We provide cost-effective and accessible services for any and all of your physiotherapy needs. To know more about our service, contact us today!
