Ease Hip Joint Pain With Rheumatoid Arthritis Remedies
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Do your hips hurt? In the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), most of the pain and joint damage happen in the hands and feet. Over time, however, and especially if you also have osteoarthritis, pain can strike your hips as well.
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While there’s no way to stop all hip pain, experts say there are some home remedies you can add to your treatment regimen to lessen your symptoms. Of course, if the pain is severe or comes out of the blue, call your physician. And always get a doctor’s clearance before working out if you haven’t been exercising regularly.
1. Warm or Ice
People living with rheumatoid arthritis frequently use hot and cold therapy to soothe achy joints. Indeed, this is one of the most widespread coping methods, according to one study.
Whether people use heat (via baths, saunas, heating pads) or cold (ice, going outside in winter) is largely a personal preference, the study found, although in general, heat was selected for everyday aches while cold was favored for acute flares. One study participant marveled at how he “never walked so many stairs” as he did while visiting a warm, southern location.
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The decision whether to use heat or ice for chronic pain should be based on listening to your body, says Carrie Janiski, DO, a family, sports, and neuromuscular skeletal medicine physician with Golden Valley Health Centers in California. “If ice feels good, use it; if heat feels better then stick with that,” she says.
Alas, the benefits of either heat or ice do appear to be fleeting. A clinical trial found mild improvements in pain, functional status, and quality of life in those employing the three-week regimen of twice daily application of either heat or cold, but it was not significantly different from the standard-treatment control group.
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2. Take Long Walks
It sometimes feels like a catch-22. People with hip pain know the benefits that come from movement, but often fear the pain that may result. But unless you feel sharp, stabbing, or radiating pain during or after, or have numbness, tingling, swelling, or redness (in which case you should be checked by your physician), movement should always win out, Dr. Janiski says.
“Joints are like door hinges; their whole purpose in life is to move,” she says. Basic movement, like a long evening walk or a stroll across the parking lot when you park far from a store, are sufficient, she says. The ideal is to get to 10,000 steps a day, but any amount of walking will be beneficial, she says.
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