Arthritis Secrets

As we all know, normal movement places tremendous mechanical stresses on even healthy joints. Joints structurally weakened by arthritis can make even the simplest, everyday activities difficult. In addition, swollen, inflamed joints (particularly the small joints of your hands and feet) are especially vulnerable, and are exposed to the risk of injury if you are not aware and careful.

Many people who experience the beginnings of arthritis pain do not know they have arthritis, and thus may inadvertantly cause injiry by continuing with activities - particualry if they mask pain with medication such as painkillers. If you compain of sore, swollen joints and/or joint pain, your OT or physician should perform an in-depth assessment of your joints to see exactly how well they’re working and what is affecting them. If and when a diagnosis of arthritis is made, you will work together to come up with a combined-therapy appraoch to managing the arthritis.

TIP: For a full range of joint protection strategies, consult an occupational therapist (OT). OTs can prescribe custom orthotics and teach you the safe way to do things that might otherwise put you at risk.

Following are some common strategies used to help people protect their joints.

Orthotics

According to the Arthritis Society of Canada, these are usually custom-made appliances (such as splints, insoles and finger ring splints) which stabilize and protect fragile joints. Orthotics act to both protect and align a joint properly to improve and maintain functioning. If you have a joint that could be helped with an orthotic, the OT may recommend an orthotic device or splint. Wrist and hand splints are the most commonly prescribed orthotics, but many people with arthritis can benefit from knee and neck braces. Ideally, according to therapists, you should have flexible splints for daytime activity and rigid ones to maintain joint alignment while you sleep.

Experts claim that splints are especially important if your hands and/or wrists are affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or lupus, since hands are prone to a deformity called ‘ulnar drift,’ where finger joints damaged by the disease start to slide toward the little finger and point away from the thumb. (The ulna is the large bone of your forearm on the side opposite to your thumb.) Tiny, tender finger joints in particular are susceptible to various deformities and challenges. are particularly vulnerable to a variety of deformities.

People with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis commonly develop problems in the joints of their feet. Heel spurs, bunions, fallen arches, hammer toes and a host of other painful conditions can be helped immensely with inserts or custom-made orthotics.

Re-Education

Common sense stells us that if something is painful, we should stop doing it. But what if those painful activites are necesasary every day tasks that we can’t live without? Arthritis sufferers may need to find new ways of doing things, enlist help, and/or be more patient with themselves, dropping unnessecary activities to ensure the basics get done. Keeping in mind that joints affected by arthritis are particularly vulnerable to damage, it’s very important to perform tasks with the protection of joints in mind. Here are some tips from the Arthritis Society of Canada:

• Reduce mechanical forces: Observe energy conservation techniques, and use adaptive equipment, such as mobility aids, large-handled utensils or a raised toilet seat.
• Use large joints: Protect the smaller, more fragile joints in your fingers and wrists by using larger ones that can withstand mechanical forces more readily. For example, instead of pushing open a door with your hand and wrist, lean against it with your shoulder or hip. And, instead of carrying a purse in your hand, sling it over your shoulder.
• Change positions often: Avoid joint stiffness, muscle fatigue and pain by changing position or stretching every half-hour or so.
• Shift rather than lift: Nothing puts mechanical stress on joints like lifting heavy objects. Avoid such situations altogether by sliding objects along a surface to their destination or shifting them onto wheeled transport (such a tea trolley, mover’s dolly or child’s wagon) for longer distances. For example, if you have to move a pan full of boiling water, use oven mitts and try sliding it with both hands from the stove along the kitchen counter. If you have to cross the kitchen, shift the pan onto a trolley and roll it across.
• Most activities can be ‘deconstructed’ into smaller movements or actions that can be analyzed and adjusted to your particular needs.