Arthritis

I have had arthritis for many years Rheumatoid arthritis. And I have never found any diet or thing to eat that had a good effect on inflammation. There is also no scientific info that leads one to believe there is.

I can certainly sympathize with you because my mother had the problem and my aunt has it. I suggest you go to a specialty drug store and get a Tensor bandage or something else they may recommend to help keep your wrist from shifting (sort of like something one would use for carpal tunnel) and you see this on especially cashiers in stores or anyone that is on the computer for a long period of time. This is usually caused by repetitive action.

I would also like to point out that you can see a specialist (if you haven't already) for arthritis and there are several medications to get you through the rough spots, but frequent blood testing should come along with it because these meds can be hard on the liver. However, short-term (such as colder weather if that is what bothers you) should be just fine and the specialist will wean you off the medication he has you on.

When grocery shopping most large grocery chains will ask if you need help. If they don't ask! Get one of those smaller carts (on two wheels) so once home you can push or pull the cart into the house. Try to keep the strain off your wrists and if you do a lot of repetitive work such as being on the computer, knitting or needlework then give your wrists a rest. It's very important that you do keep your wrists mostly active (even though painful) because it will be a lot worse for you if you don't use them to some degree. The Tensor bandage enables you to do this without moving the wrist too dramatically (turning from side-to-side.)

Rheumatoid arthritis can.

The causes of arthritis

There are over a hundred different forms of arthritis and the actual cause for most of these is still not known. it known that wear and tear , trauma. and autoimmune problems can lead to the disease, especially in people with a genetic predisposition to it. They are rheumatic diseases and are able to cause symptoms organs of the body that do not directly involve the joints. Symptoms with some forms of arthritis include fever, gland swelling (lymph node), weight loss, fatigue, feeling unwell, and abnormalities in organs such as the lungs, heart and kidneys.The symptoms of arthritis?

The symptoms of arthritis include limitation in the function joints accompanied by pain. Inflammation of the joints causes stiffness in the joints of the body, swelling, redness, and warmth. Tenderness of the inflamed joint can be present, as well as the formation of nodules near affected joints..

I have psoriatic arthritis. Symptoms I've experienced include joint pain, , swelling, restricted movement, fatigue, low grade fever, loss of joint strength, with affected joints hot to the touch. These symptoms are usually at their worst first thing upon awakening and at the end of the day. Some days are worse than others.

Now it's not the normal procedure during Alexander Technique sessions to work on relieving symptoms. When it comes to posture, the actual pain or symptom is rarely isolated to one area, but part of a much bigger picture relating to their whole posture. it's often the 'tip of the iceberg'. So although I might do a small amount of specific work on her ankles, I am best able to help by working on her whole poise, balance and co-ordination, and where there are painful symptoms relating to tensions etc, they are likely to disappear as a consequence. We need to work on the cause, rather than the effect. Naturally there may be other reasons for ankle pain such as arthritic joints and if this is the case, she should see a doctor or physiotherapist. But in her case there seemed to be postural problems that are likely to be the cause, and this is what we can help with AT.

I could see that when my client was standing, there was the tendency for her to be leaning forwards just a bit and this also showed itself during walking. She also had a habitual stance of stooping forward and shortening her stature. There will be an unnatural and constant strain in muscles and tendons in the back of her legs, back and neck due to her habit of being off balance. There is probably a reaction to this strain occurring during rest at night: they contract further. The answer is likely to be a change in her manner of standing and walking so she is under less strain during the day. It is my belief that by helping her to free up, lengthen and open out, she will improve her poise and co-ordination to a degree where her symptoms will hopefully go without us working specifically on her ankles. She is likely to experience quite a number of other benefits too, but these are not what I'm discussing with this blog.

My client will learn during our sessions how to become more aware of her balance and how to 'use the technique' for herself. However, there are a couple of considerations here that prompted me to write this blog.

If we have the tendency to lean forward just a bit (or a lot in some people's case!) then the reason why we don't fall over is because we are tightening various muscles in the backs of our legs as well as straining the Achilles Tendon and hamstrings. This is an automatic response of our body to the precarious situation we are in. Falling over hurts.....and our reflexes and survival systems kick in to save us. (This may seem simple and obvious, but this situation is very common with a great many people.) If we were table o relax all the muscles that are working overtime, we certainly would fall over. So this cannot be achieved unless we improve our balance.

Why do we lean forwards you may ask? Well it's probably become a habit, but certainly not something we did as a child as we have wonderful free poise, unaffected by habits. We pick up these habits from copying parents, friends, as well as getting stressed. We also lean forward in a business or social situation where we may be put on the spot, if we're presenting something to a group or individual, if we want to impress our boss or audience or anxious to do well. We have quite a high centre of gravity with our heavy torso and a 4-5 kilo head, so our balance is precarious. It's easy to get off balance and if we do, there will be many tensions required just to stop us from falling. We get stiff, tight in the muscles along with a stiff neck, headaches and impaired breathing and lower self-confidence. We undermine ourselves.

The answer is to always let your body weight come back a little so it's over your ankles. Don't lean backwards, but equally do not lean forwards! Seek the vertical. The ideal alignment (if we were a fixed statue) would be head over shoulders, shoulders over hips and hips over ankles. But naturally we move around as humans, so we won't get stuck in this position, but it is a 'resting place or position of neutrality where we are in best balance and consequently have the chance to use minimum effort.

High heels have the tendency to throw our weight forwards and I wrote about this in a previous blog. We can have the habit of leaning forwards in any case.

The second point is to do with body weight and it's probably self evident from what I've already said. But if we are carrying more body weight than we would wish, this makes moving around harder work. It also creates more of a pull if we are off balance. By the way, I'm not suggesting that my client is over weight! But this can be a relevant factor for many people. If we are very tall or over-weight then as the effects of gravity are unremitting we will experience even more of a strain if we are off balance. If we are over-weight then we can help avoid back trouble and strain by losing a few pounds. But despite this, we can help our balance immediately by drawing our attention to how we are. Look in a shop window as you pass to see if you are tipped forwards or leaning. If so, bring your body weight back over your ankles. By doing so, you can then encourage your ankles to relax more, to think them free and loose. As the subtitle of my book goes....."Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life."-)

taken from www.noelkingsley.com

Osteoarthritis can cause the breakdown of cartilage between facet joints. This causes pain as well as loss of motion and stiffness.

The facet joints are in the back portion or posterior of the spine. They combine with the disc space to create a three joint complex at each vertebral level. These joints consist of two opposing bony surfaces that should have cartilage between them and a capsule around it that produces fluid.

The cartilage and the fluid combine to allow the joint to move with little friction. However, with facet joint arthritis, the cartilage breaks down causing more friction with joint movement. This leads to a loss of motion stiffness and back pain.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a Autoimmune disease. and has nothing to do with aging. as a matter of fact baby's can be afflicted with it. What happens is the immune system mistakenly attacks cartilage and often other areas that are made with connective tissue. The inflammation associated with it can lead to the complete destruction of joints and associated bone and muscle. and cause serious deformity's. the cause for the disease is not known however there deo seem to be genetic links.

The form arthritis caused by wear and tear, trauma and at times aging is known as osteoarthritis.

Most forms of arthritis are found in the joints of the body and are characterized by pain and dysfunction The main forms are inflammatory and non inflammatory arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. RA can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, and in other organs and tissue in the body. An autoimmune disease is a condition where body's tissues are mistakenly attacked by the body's own immune system. The immune is designed to "seek and destroy" invaders or foreign materials of the body, especially infections. Persons with autoimmune diseases have antibodies in their blood that attack their own body tissue, where they can be associated with inflammation. Because it can affect several organs of the body it is known as a systemic illness and is sometimes called rheumatoid disease. Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic illness, meaning it can last for years, patients may experience long periods of time without symptoms. Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive illness that has the potential to cause joint destruction and functional disability.

Osteoarthritis is another very common form of arthritis and this is more likely to come later in life as the result of wear and tear. and sometimes trauma causing joint damage and displacement.

Gouty arthritis is another form of arthritis that is the result of the formation of crystals being formed in joints and other parts of the body. this disease tent to be prevalent mainly in men

I have arthritis and this feeling can occur. especially in your feet, it feels like you need to just sit down

I have rheumatoid arthritis and I get a burning sensation in all of my joints, particularly during a flare up.