What are the care measures for arthritis?

For patients with arthritis, the core nursing logic is to reduce additional wear and tear on joints, slow down degeneration, and relieve uncomfortable symptoms. This cannot be achieved once and for all by relying on magic remedies. The focus is on the daily details. Last week I treated a 62-year-old patient with knee arthritis. After suffering from the disease for three years, I heard people say that "the more you practice, the more flexible your joints become." He climbed 20 floors and squatted 100 times every morning and evening. When he came, he was in so much pain that he couldn't even get out of the wheelchair. His knees were swollen like sourdough buns, which is a typical pitfall of care.

Many people have misunderstandings about arthritis care, thinking that they need to move more to avoid stiffness. In fact, the score is different. In the acute stage, when the joints are red, swollen and painful, and it is difficult to move, don't force yourself to go for a walk or dance in the square. At this time, the joints are like bearings that have been worn and hot. If you continue to turn them hard, the wear will only get worse. The most important thing to do at this stage is to "reduce the load" on the joints. Run less, don't carry more than 10 kilograms of heavy objects, and wear sports shoes with elastic soles when walking. Patients with knee arthritis can wear supportive knee pads to provide support for the joints. If there is a problem with the cervical spine or lumbar spine, don't look down for a long time to browse the mobile phone or sit on the sofa to watch TV. Get up every 40 to 50 minutes and swing for two minutes to relax. These small things don't cost a penny, and once done, the pain can be eliminated by half.

Once the redness and swelling have subsided and entered a stable phase, you can then slowly add gentle activities, such as swimming, squatting against the wall, and slow walking. Moderate exercise can strengthen the muscles around the joints, which is equivalent to installing a few more "shock-absorbing pads" on the joints, which can help the joints share a lot of pressure, which is more effective than any number of health supplements taken. If the pain is severe, don’t bear it. Just take some anti-inflammatory analgesics or topical anti-inflammatory patch according to the doctor’s instructions. Don’t believe the “three-no” products that are touted in the circle of friends as “radical cures for arthritis”. I met a patient not long ago who took a micro-business “special medicine” for half a year. His joints were not healed but he developed gastric ulcers. The gain outweighed the gain.

Speaking of this, many people may ask, should I take supplements of the legendary joint-protecting health care products? The most common one is ammonia sugar. There is still some controversy in the academic circles about its role. Some European and American studies believe that its effect on improving symptoms is not much different from that of a placebo. Domestic orthopedic guidelines recommend that patients with early and mid-stage osteoarthritis can supplement it in appropriate amounts under the guidance of a doctor. It has a certain auxiliary effect on cartilage repair. However, it is basically meaningless for patients with advanced joints that have obvious deformation and narrow gaps. On the contrary, it may increase the metabolic burden of the liver and kidneys. It is not recommended to blindly follow the trend.

Pay more attention to keeping your joints warm at ordinary times. Don't expose your ankles or knees in the winter, and don't expose your joints to the cold wind from the air conditioner. Last year, I treated a 28-year-old young man who liked to wear ripped pants to expose his knees in winter. Within two years, he developed knee arthritis. He had to hold on to the handrails when going up and downstairs when the pain started. The cold air repeatedly stimulated the joint synovium and inflamed it, which gradually became a chronic disease. If patients who are overweight can really lose weight appropriately, some studies have calculated that for every 10 pounds of weight gain, the knee joints will bear 30 pounds of additional pressure when walking. Losing a few pounds is equivalent to directly removing a huge burden from the joints, and the nursing effect is more obvious than anything else.

In fact, arthritis care is nothing fancy. It is all about the little things that are inconspicuous in daily life. If you persist in it for a long time, you will avoid a lot of suffering and postpone the need for surgical intervention as much as possible.