ARTHRITIS affects a staggering 10 million people in the UK and is a condition that affects the joints. With most people stuck indoors, how can you relieve the pain felt in the joints? Arthritis is a common condition that can affect people of all ages. Arthritis pain can lead to a number of debilitating symptoms that patients will want to try and avoid.
The condition is known to make life much more difficult with simple, everyday tasks becoming much more difficult. Sometimes the condition can greatly affect a person’s life but trying these easy two-minute exercises could help relieve some of the pain felt.
Arthritis Foundation said: “A study shows that just two minutes of exercise daily is enough to ease the pain.
“In the study of 198 office workers with frequent neck and shoulder pain, those who completed two minutes a day of resistance exercise with elastic tubing experienced relief similar to those who completed 12 minutes of daily exercise.”
Duke University physical therapist, Cynthia Harrell, who specializes in arthritis said: “Short bouts of exercise can strengthen muscles and relieves pain and stiffness due to arthritis.
“And even two minutes can be broken up into smaller chunks of different types of exercise that can give your whole body a boost.” Arthritis Foundation recommends some easy two-minute exercises
To relax and relieve stiffness in the joints:
- Breathing deeply through your belly for 30 to 60 seconds
- Stretch hamstrings for 30 seconds
- Stretch calves for 30 seconds
Strengthen muscles to support knees by:
- Squeezing a ball between your knees for five-second squeezes for a total of 60 seconds
- Perform seated straight leg raises for 30 seconds for each leg
To strengthen the hips and thighs:
- March in place for 30 to 60 seconds
- Walk forward and backward 10 steps each way
To improve upper body range of motion:
- Circle arms backward for 30 seconds
- Moving your arms on a tabletop as if you’re doing the breaststroke for 60 seconds
- Perform wrist circles, wrist bands (up and down) and open and close fingers for 10 seconds each
If worried about the pain felt due to arthritis, monitoring your diet could also help with pain management. In a 2009 study, it was found that decreasing the number of wrong foods eaten could help to reduce inflammation and help restore the body’s natural defenses.
Certain foods can either promote or suppress inflammation in one’s body. By eating anti-inflammatory foods such as leafy green and colorful vegetables and avoiding inflammatory foods, a person could help ease their arthritis pain.
The NHS added: “There’s no cure for arthritis, but there are many treatments that can help slow it down. “Osteoarthritis treatments include lifestyle changes, medications, and surgery.
“Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis aims to slow the condition’s progress and minimize joint inflammation. “This helps prevent joint damage
