Your joints are some of the hardest-working parts of your body. They absorb the shock that occurs every time you place a foot on the ground or move your arms. Over time, many people develop arthritis due to the loss of cartilage between each joint. Experiencing an accident, having certain health disorders, and working in a high-stress job can all contribute to the rapid decline of your joints. Once the pain sets in, you’ll want to address it right away. In addition to your doctor’s recommendations, you can use these at-home strategies to get some pain relief.
Keep Your Body Moving
Arthritis pain tends to be the worst first thing in the morning or after you have been sitting for a while. This is because your joints settle into place, and they may not be properly lubricated if you aren’t using them. Try waking up and doing a few gentle rotations of the limb that hurts. You can also do some basic stretches to wake up those stiff joints. Walking and doing low-impact exercises will help to keep your joints limber.
Use High-Strength CBD Cream
You might already be trying to use over-the-counter pain relievers. While these can help, they don’t go straight to the source. CBD is a natural hemp-derived pain reliever that is known to relieve inflammation. CBD pain cream penetrates through your skin so that you target the specific area that hurts. You can use this type of cream multiple times a day so that pain relief is available any time you need it. Consider a 2000mg CBD full-spectrum pain cream when you’re looking for pain relief.
Experiment With Different Temperatures
Hot and cold temperatures can help to relieve inflammation and loosen up sticking joints. Since everyone is different, you’ll need to experiment to figure out what works best for your type of joint pain. As a general rule, heat relaxes the ligaments around your joints, and cold temperatures soothe inflammation. Try mixing it up until you find your go-to temperature or routine for improving your pain.
Try Relaxation Therapy
When your joints hurt, it might feel impossible to think of anything else, and that can build up stress. Yet, tensing up due to stressing about it only makes things worse. Relaxation therapy helps you to distract yourself from the pain while lowering the tension in your body. This is a broad term for many different types of relaxation, which means you can find the type that works best for you.
For example, you can try forest bathing, which simply involves spending time outside, purposely and consciously soaking up the beauty of nature. Or, you might practice meditation. While the effects of meditation and mindfulness on chronic pain are still being studied, several studies and reviews have found that meditation can help reduce the pain and stress associated with chronic pain, at least temporarily. While meditation is often considered to be a stationary practice, you can combine it with movement. Yoga and meditation walks can both have great benefits both mentally and physically.
Even starting up a new hobby helps you to relax and move your mind past focusing on the pain. In addition to simply being an enjoyable creative outlet, hobbies like painting, knitting, crocheting, and dancing can help loosen up stiff joints and improve dexterity. Depending on the activity, you may want to make some slight adjustments like stretching beforehand, taking breaks, or using modified tools.
When your joints feel better, every movement becomes easier. If you’ve been soldiering through your arthritis pain, then now is the time to start figuring out what works to help you feel better. Remember to give your new strategies time to work, and keep at it. You’ll soon discover that your pain begins to feel better, which helps you to get more satisfaction out of each day.
