How to Care for Your Aching Joints at Home

 Around 1.71 billion people across the globe cope with some form of musculoskeletal condition, including joint problems, which often leads to the need for medical care. Joint pain can be associated with conditions that make stability, mobility, and other related issues more difficult, including diseases, chronic illnesses, and a range of injuries. Whether it’s from intense physical activity, falling down, or some other mishap, joint pain is quite common.  

Regardless of the cause, and whether the pain in your joints is acute or chronic (short term or long lasting), there are ways to manage your symptoms at home. So, to better understand what to do if you’re struggling with it, let’s look at the reasons joint pain happens, some common treatment options, and wha+t you can do at home to manage it. 

If you live in the Fort Worth, Texas area and you’re trying to help ease pain in your joints, Dr. Joseph Daniels and his experienced staff at Southwest Orthopedic Associates can help.

Reasons for aching joints

Joints are a connection between two bones, surrounded by musculoskeletal tissues like tendons, ligaments, and muscles. They come in different types, ranging from highly mobile to completely immobile. Your ability to do everything from bending your limbs to moving your jaw is impossible without your joints.

A variety of things can cause pain and aches in your joints, including:

• Injuries: this can result from the impact of everything from contact sports, falling down, or being in an accident, and can lead to damage anywhere in the joint

• Repetitive motion: performing the same tasks over and over again when at home or at work can lead to pain in joints, and lead to other conditions that affect them

• Obesity: our joints bear the weight of our bodies, and putting too much strain on them can cause pain and many other problems

• Arthritis: this is the general term for a variety of conditions that inflame and damage joints, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and gout

Whatever caused your joint pain, you can seek treatment and relief.

Treatment options

Treating your aching joints can take a lot of different forms when it comes to medical help. Medications are a common solution for a variety of conditions that cause this pain; they reduce related inflammation. They include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and corticosteroids. 

If infections are also involved with the pain, antivirals and antibiotics can help to manage symptoms. In the case of injuries or conditions like arthritis, physical therapy can help to restore mobility, stability and strength in joints, and surgery can help with severe problems in joints if other methods fail. 

A combination of methods can also be used, depending on your individual needs.

Home care options

Here’s what you can do in the comfort of your own home to deal with joint pain:

Over-the-counter medications

Topical pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs are readily available in stores to help manage problems with joint aches and pain.

Warm baths

Getting into a warm bath can also help relieve pain and reduce inflammation on affected joints — and help you relax.

Physical activity

This means doing exercises that don’t make the joint problems worse, and that do keep the body mobile and flexible. Stretching before exercises is also important to prevent overworking your joints.

Maintain healthy body weight

Losing weight is a solution if obesity is part of the reason for the stress on your bones and joints, and the aforementioned tips can help you lose weight and keep it off. A moderate exercise regimen can make a world of difference in staying healthy.

Proper rest

Getting a good night’s rest is important for a variety of reasons, but it can also be helpful in the healing process for joints.

Home care can also be done in addition to whatever treatments you get from us, so there are many ways we can approach dealing with these issues. If you're ready to be free of pain in your joints, make an appointment with Dr. Daniels and his team at Southwest Orthopedic Associates today.