Pain refers to an unlikable, disturbing, and sensory feeling that is attributed to the concrete or probable damage of tissues. Different arthritis types have the potential to induce pain that is split into two broad categories namely, acute and chronic. If acute pain refers to a temporary, unpleasant, and touching sensation; then chronic pain is a long lasting experience of mild to severe ache lasting even until years or lifetime. Any of these pains can aggravate stress, fatigue, and pessimism. In fact, it can form a vicious circle as these three are also the causes of augmented pain.

Chronic pain is worse as it impacts the victims on multiple levels – physically due to discomfort and disability to perform normal tasks, emotionally due to pessimism and despondency, psychologically due to depression and dispelling self-esteem,socially due to isolation, and occupationally due to difficulty in performing. So, it is a severe health issue and that it is also among the most weakening arthritis effects.

It is also true that the intensity and frequency of pain tend to vary drastically from one individual to another. Further, even the causes of pain are not the same in everyone, which can be inflammation of joints, ligaments, and tendons; muscle tension; stress; nerve damage; and fatigue. And yes, a combination of these causal factors is also responsible to add to the intensity of pain. Finally, each individual tends to posses dissimilar threshold and patience level for pain, which are mostly decided by the physical as well as emotional factors.

All this together makes arthritis pain management necessary. It will actually aid you in preserving the life quality that can be degraded with augmented pain in case of no treatment or control. Even the vicious cycles caused due to pain are chopped off by the arthritis pain management ways.

The common management ways

Better ways of arthritis pain management are being continuously hunted to bring maximum relief. As the goal is to get relief, sufferers always are in a hurry to try many different arthritis pain management ways so that they know what works best for them. However, know that if a way is beneficial for one person, it might not be that much effective for the other. Some of main pain management ways are medications, exercises, hydrotherapy, rest, TENS, and surgery.

Medicines

These surely are great relievers in case of arthritis pain. However, they do carry some potential after effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding and stomach pain. The most preferred pain medications are NonSteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics including narcotic painkillers. These medicines do give you some amount of comfort, but do not improve the overall state of arthritis. Due to their after effects, their dosage and duration must be controlled.

Massage

Massage is one of the best arthritis pain management ways to recover from pain, smoothenthe stiff and inflamed muscles, and decrease inflammation. With increased circulation and relaxed muscles, pain decreases.

Rest

Pain is one of the parameters that tells you about the need of rest. You just need to heed this signal and let the body rest so that its energy cells get recharged properly. Too much activeness is not good in this pain. When you rest, it has been proved that inflammation reduces to a considerable extent. But, rest adequately – avoid too much or no rest at all as extreme rest leads to muscle weakness. So, get the balance!

Exercises

Daily exercises ensure muscle flexibility, normal function, and less pain. It is always recommended that people with arthritis must always make an exercise plan by consulting their doctors. This is because a few exercises might not be appropriate for people with swollen joints.

Hydrotherapy or tepid water therapy

A dip in warm water is just the perfect remedy to ease the joint pain. This is nothing but water therapy that greatly aids in reducing stiffness and pain. Find a spa, warm pool, or a hot tub where exercising in hot water takes away the burden of pain. Relief is mostly achieved because of the movement and heat given by the body movements and warm water.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Units

TENS makes use of a low-voltage stimulation that is applied to the nerves for preventing the pain signals to reach the brain. This electrical charge is given via electrodes that are instilled on the skin and is useful for treating chronic or intractable pain.

Surgery

his is the last choice when no other method works. Surgery aims at discarding pain from a particular joint. One such common surgery is the joint replacement surgery and is feasible too in which the damaged joint is discarded, which is replaced by a prosthesis. Some more surgical options are arthrodesis (fusion), re-section, synovectomy, and arthroscopy.