How to Protect Your Joints With Psoriatic Arthritis?

The current busy lifestyle does not leave much room for people to take care of themselves. Such a situation is causing many new lifestyle diseases, such as Arthritis. It is a problem related to joints and the musculoskeletal system and requires orthopaedic attention. 

Orthopaedics is devoted to diagnosing and treating bone disorder, joint disorders, and other related problems. Coming out as an emerging department, Orthopaedic doctors in Mumbai are highly specialized in dealing with various forms of Arthritis. 

What is Psoriatic Arthritis?

There are different kinds of arthritis, but some are more common than others. Psoriatic Arthritis is one of the most common conditions in which the body’s joints become inflamed, resulting in stiffness and painful joints. In general, people with psoriasis (a skin-related condition) usually get affected by psoriatic arthritis. 

Doing regular exercise and maintaining correct posture are two preferred ways to not only lessen the effects of Psoriatic Arthritis but also safeguard your joints. Besides, it makes you feel energized and active throughout the day. While spending your routine lifestyle, if you pay attention to some ways of managing tasks, you could avoid overworking the joints. This can provide considerable relief to patients impacted by Psoriatic Arthritis.

Tips to avoid overworking the joints

Psoriatic Arthritis can be painful and hard on your joints. Below provided are a few tips you can follow to protect your joints.

• Don’t forget to wear your splints

Wearing splints will help lessen the damage to the joints and ease the pain. They can even help in maintaining stability and work on inflammation. Doctors generally advise contraptions that immobilize the affected bone or joint and help in giving support to an inflamed joint. Besides this, gentle and flexible exercise must be performed regularly. One should also be mindful to perform physical therapy to overcome the stiffness problems of the joints.

• Take the edge off stiffness by regular exercise

Flexibility can be achieved by inculcating regular exercises that help combat fatigue, increase physical strength and stamina, and reduce joint stiffness and pain. Daily practicing yoga, swimming, walking around the block might seem overwhelming for enhancing bone and muscle strength. Initially, you might feel aggravation in joint pains, but in reality, the lack of exercise will make them stiffer. Physical therapy will also aid in providing lubrication and nourishment to the joints, improving their alignment.

• Hot and Cold therapy is not a bad idea

Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis will be benefited from alternating hot and cold therapy. This kind of therapy mainly helps in alleviating pain and relaxing the muscles. It also leads to a reduction in inflammation of joints. They can be uncomfortable at first, but their benefits will definitely help in reduce stiffness and pain. People find relief in either therapy or even through the alternate session of both therapies. An easy and inexpensive way to protect your joints from aches and pains is to make these therapies an inseparable part of your daily life.

• Better nutrition equals better joint health    

Managing a well-balanced diet in your routine will provide all the essential nutrients for strengthening the muscles and bones. Adding a large variety of fruits, green leafy vegetables, milk, milk products, and healthy fats to your everyday diet will help alleviate inflammation, joint pain, weight issues and promote good health. Including various antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin A, and Tocopherol in your diet can also help in enhancing bone health. As per many pieces of research, a Mediterranean-style meal has anti-inflammatory capabilities that can help prevent further damage to the body joints. 

• Be careful when you lift up

When someone doesn’t know how to maintain the proper balance or posture, lifting something from the ground can mess up their body joints. Moreover, improper weight balancing and mishandling items with a wrong posture can aggravate the inflammation and joint pains in the body. Thus, proper bending of knees, maintaining a 90° angle while handling any weight, and using both hands are some of the ways by which everyone can prevent harming the body muscles and tissues. 

• Options to make your daily tasks easier

Opting for the household helpers to carry out daily household chores, using technological tools and work simplification methods like reducing the number of motions, etc., are excellent options for patients suffering from Psoriatic Arthritis. They not only make your daily life easy but also help you avoid overworking your joints.

• Give a thought about Occupational Therapy

Practicing therapy at your workplace to carry out regular work and leisure activities will protect the joints without straining them. In addition, balancing daily activities with adequate rest helps in relieving mobility problems. An occupational therapist can suggest the best-related changes in lifestyle that might help the patients suffering from Psoriatic Arthritis.

Conclusion

Psoriatic Arthritis is indeed a chronic health problem, but inculcating a few changes like the ones mentioned above can help ease its discomfort a long way. Suggestions from Orthopaedics doctors in Mumbai and elsewhere encourage patients to keep themselves active as much as possible and maintain a properly balanced diet. They are also asked to keep an eye on their weight because obesity is one of the issues that aggravate joint pains. Furthermore, complementary treatments like acupuncture, the Alexander Techniques, etc. are also effective in reducing bodily stress on bones and joints.