Friday 1 March 2019

Living with arthritis? 5 tips for managing morning stiffness


While everyone can feel a like they need a good stretch first thing in the morning, for people living with arthritis, waking up with joints that have stiffened overnight can be a big problem.
“Mornings for people with arthritis can be a real challenge. Stiffness in the joints can mean it’s difficult to get out of bed, and once actually out of bed, to stand straight, or even move at all,” “For some people, morning stiffness can be accompanied by pain, which may be severe and occur all over the body, or just in certain joints. With some arthritis conditions, it may feel almost impossible to get out of bed due to the fear of widespread pain starting as soon as a person gets up.”
Typically, people with osteoarthritis can struggle with this for around 30 minutes, while the hallmark for inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis, or RA) is morning stiffness that makes it difficult to move for at least an hour.
It’s thought it occurs due to the long period of inactivity overnight (known as the ‘gel phenomenon’, where the fluid in the joint thickens from the lack of movement during sleep), although another theory suggests that for people with RA, for example, the body releases insufficient amounts of the anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol during the night, leading to horribly stiff, sore joints on waking.
But if this all sounds painfully familiar, what can you do to help? Here are seven tips for managing arthritis-related morning stiffness Suggested by AMRI Hospitals, best orthopedic hospital in Kolkata.

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