Arthritis Care Plan and Measures

Prioritize pain control, hierarchical intervention, and tailor-made treatments - first clarify the type of arthritis (osteoarthritis/rheumatoid/gout, etc.), the stage of the disease (acute stage/remission stage), and personal tolerance, and then combine the care plan in a targeted manner. Blindly following Internet celebrity care methods may aggravate joint damage.

The first thing most people feel and the most intolerable is joint pain. Especially on cooling days, after squatting or walking for a long time, the soreness and swelling pain will appear along the joint seams. In severe cases, it is difficult to even put on socks and twist a towel. Among the patients I have come into contact with in the rehabilitation department, eight out of ten first ask, "Is there any way to cure it?" ”, to be honest, whether it is degenerative osteoarthritis or autoimmune-related rheumatoid, there is currently no complete cure. The core goal of care has never been to "cut off the root", but to minimize pain, not affect normal life, and slow down the speed of joint deformation or wear.

A while ago I met a 62-year-old Aunt Zhang who has been suffering from knee osteoarthritis for three years. I was watching a short video and saw people saying that salt bag hot compress can cure arthritis. She applied it at home for forty minutes every day. As a result, it was just pain when walking. After a week of applying it, her knee became swollen like a steamed bun and she couldn't walk. Here I’m going to talk about a question that many people have argued about: Should I use hot or cold compresses for arthritis? In fact, there is no standard answer. If the joint is in the acute stage and the joints are red, swollen, hot, and painful, especially in the acute attack of gout or the active stage of rheumatoid arthritis, cold compresses should be given priority within 72 hours to shrink blood vessels and reduce inflammatory exudation. At this time, hot compresses will only aggravate edema, and the more you apply them, the more swollen you will become. ； If you are in the chronic remission stage and only feel stiff and sore after being exposed to cold, but there is no obvious redness or swelling, you can apply a warm towel or hot water bag at about 40 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, which can relax the muscles and relieve the stiffness. Just be careful not to burn it.

There is another more controversial point: Should you move more or less when you have arthritis? The conservative view of traditional orthopedics favors immobilization as much as possible in the acute phase to put less pressure on the joints to avoid aggravation of wear and tear. ； The viewpoint in the field of sports rehabilitation advocates non-weight-bearing muscle strength training within the pain tolerance range. After all, the stability of the joints is entirely supported by the surrounding muscles and ligaments. If the muscle strength is insufficient, even walking will cause additional pressure on the joints. I saw a 29-year-old gout patient run a half-marathon as soon as the pain subsided, only to come back in a wheelchair the next day due to pain. ； I have also seen a 58-year-old patient with osteoarthritis practice squatting quietly for 10 minutes and pedaling a bicycle in the air for 15 minutes every day. He has not had any pain for more than three years and has no difficulty walking up and down stairs. In fact, both views are correct. The key point is to see what stage you are at and what kind of exercise you choose: in the acute stage, when the pain is severe, just rest and don’t force yourself to move. ； During the remission period, try to do as little weight-bearing exercise as climbing mountains, climbing stairs, squatting, and long-term running and jumping. Focus on training the muscle strength around the joints. For example, if your knees are not good, you can practice quadriceps. If your finger joints are not good, practice non-weight-bearing grasping and stretching. Stop exercising until you feel a little sore. Don't push hard until it hurts.

By the way, many people ask whether they should take supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin? This is also a point of great controversy in the academic circles. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons’ guidelines do not recommend routine supplementation, while some domestic guidelines believe that supplementation can have a certain relief effect in patients with early- to mid-stage osteoarthritis. Judging from actual clinical cases, some people who are over 50 years old and whose cartilage is only slightly worn take regular pharmaceutical amino sugars (not the kind of health products that cost hundreds of dollars a bottle), and some people do find their pain relieved. ； But if it has reached the level of severe wear and tear and the joint space is almost worn away, no matter how much you eat, it will be useless. It is better to consider injection or surgical intervention according to the doctor's advice.

Small habits in daily life are actually more important than anything else. Don't always think that you need to rely on high-end equipment or expensive supplements. For example, people with bad knees should avoid wearing hard-soled leather shoes or stiletto heels. Instead, choose sports shoes with a certain degree of elasticity in the soles, which can cushion the pressure on the knees from walking. ； Don’t expose your ankles or knees in winter. When wearing knee pads, don’t choose ones that are tied extremely tightly. This will cause poor blood circulation and make it more likely to hurt. ； Rheumatoid patients should be careful not to carry heavy objects for a long time or use excessive force to avoid deformation of finger joints. ； Patients with gouty arthritis should not only focus on joint care, but also control their mouths, drink less soup, eat less seafood, and control uric acid within the standard range, otherwise the pain will be in vain.

If the pain is so severe that it affects your sleep and normal walking, don't insist on not taking medicine. Many people think that painkillers hurt the stomach and cause dependence, so they just take them. In fact, the side effects of commonly used COX-2 inhibitors are much smaller than those of older painkillers. Taking it in a short period of time according to the doctor's advice is much more cost-effective than taking painkillers that cause stress damage to joints. As for the sodium hyaluronate injections and PRP treatments that everyone often asks about, they are not suitable for everyone. Injections can indeed lubricate the joints and relieve pain for patients with early- to mid-stage osteoarthritis. If they have reached the end-stage and have severe joint deformation, then these methods are useless. If you should consider joint replacement, consider it and don’t delay.

I have come into contact with too many patients, who are either too anxious or afraid to do any work or even walk much after suffering from arthritis. Instead, their muscles become more and more atrophied and their joint stability becomes worse and worse.； Or you just don't take it seriously, and you still carry it to do heavy work or climb stairs when it hurts, and it wears out faster and faster. In fact, the care of arthritis can be complicated or simple. The core is not to follow the trend. Go to the hospital to find out what type you have and to what extent it is, and then tailor a plan that is most useful for you. After all, your joints are yours, and only you know whether they are comfortable or not, right?