If you experience even little pain in any of your joints or body parts, know that there is something wrong in the body. It might be even arthritis that mostly assaults joints and muscles. Do not ignore even that mild pain as it can convert into chronic pain, which can make you disable to carry out even the normal activities. Therefore, you must know about the ways of pain relief for arthritis treatment. You can know about them by consulting your doctor or rheumatologist. The options of pain relief for arthritis management are mostly categorized into two broad categories namely, non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic options. In this article, we will focus on the non-pharmacologic options.

Meditation or relaxation techniques

Such techniques ease stress or tension of the muscles and combat fatigue. They are simply the best for discarding stress, anxiety, depression, and sleeping problems. Are you aware that stress, muscle tension, and sleeping issues can induce more arthritis pain?

Deep breathing

This is an ideal way to gain pain relief for arthritis alleviation. This technique clears your mind as you inhale and exhale deeply, slowly, and steadily. In most of the deep breathing methods, you are asked to inhale via the nose, while you exhale from the mouth to release muscle tension.

Biofeedback

This is one more effective technique in which a blend of visualization, relaxation, and machine signals is utilized to achieve a great control over pain. Your body is attached to the electrodes that, in turn, are connected to a machine. With this, you learn to gain a control over muscle tension, high blood pressure, high temperature, and heart rate.

Heat therapy

Many patients of arthritis usually feel the pain and stiffness in the morning. To relieve both of these, hot showers or hot tub baths are recommended. The warmness of the water actually aids in relaxing the muscles and soothing the stiffness. Assistive devices are also effective here, which include hot packs, saunas, electric blankets, and heating pads. Further, even paraffin wax baths are also suggested for hands, elbows, and feet.

Cold therapy

As against the heat therapy, cold therapy called cryotherapy is also opted by many arthritis patients. This therapy aims at relieving the pain by temporary deadening the nerve endings in the damaged body part and reducing the task of body cells as well as the blood flow leading to reduced inflammation. Cold compresses, frozen gels, or wrapping a bag of ice cubes are some known ways of this therapy. However, people with Raynaud’s disease should never go for this method.

Progressive relaxation

Also known as creative imagery, this is a technique of reclining on your back to steadily tense and unwind all the body parts. This relaxation then finally acts as a pain controller. After this progressive relaxation, the mind is indulged in imagining a happy event. By making the mind occupied with this scene, stress surely alleviates along with pain. Such relaxation and diversion indicates that the body is certainly connected with the mind and is affected by all the activities of mind.

Occupational therapy

This method has taken roots in psychiatry, physical cure, and behavioral psychology. This therapy aims at:

• Helping the sufferer to identify the tasks or behaviors that increase the pain.
• Teaching ways of lessening the pain time.
• Using ways to alleviate the intensity of pain.
• Aiding patients to perform better at home and at workplace.
• Changing the lifestyle to include good habits.

In this therapy, some of the pain management ways that are preferred include joint protection devices, body mechanics as a method to move the body without increasing pain, exercises, conserving energy, ability emphasis, and relaxation techniques.

Pain clinics

These aim at offering a few pain management ways for the victims with prolonged pain. Such people do not respond to medicational and surgical options. Pain clinics provide every possible way to reduce the severity and frequency of pain and boost the quality of life. They mostly implement a holistic approach that might include drug management, counseling, nerve blocks, physical therapy, and relaxation.

Mutual support

This is one of the vital ways to achieve pain relief for arthritis treatment to be successful. People who are in acute or chronic pain must share their opinions and feelings as well as take inspiration from those who have fought with this pain or have helped others to come out of the pain. This is because such people have faced similar problems, effects, and limitations.