5 Tips for Managing Joint Pain Due to Osteoarthritis

Arthritis is a growing problem in the United States — as of right now, about 58.5 million Americans have some form of arthritis, including 33 million adults with osteoarthritis (OA).

If you’re among those who are dealing with OA, you understand the increasing impact it can have on your life. When OA makes moving around difficult, your quality of life can suffer greatly, and you want to find a way to break free from the pain and limitations that come with the disease. 

As experts in arthritis management, you’ve come to the right place. At Michigan Avenue Primary Care, our extensive team of medical providers includes joint health specialists who understand what is needed to best manage OA. Let’s take a look.

1. Understand your arthritis 

There are more than 100 different types of arthritis, and OA is by far the most common. With this type of joint disease, the cartilage inside your joints, which protects the bones and facilitates easy gliding, starts to break down.

The most important point we want to make about OA is that the disease is progressive — the cartilage breakdown will continue, and your symptoms will worsen unless you take steps to slow the wear-and-tear. So, your first management tip is to embrace this fact and take a proactive approach.

1. Get your arthritis toolkit in order

A great place to start if you want to address your OA is to see us for a baseline evaluation of the damage in your joints. From there, we can create the right arthritis toolkit for your needs, which can include: 

• Over-the-counter medications that control pain and inflammation
• Prescription medications that address inflammation
• Joint injections to manage inflammation
• Hyaluronic acid injections to promote lubrication in the joint
• Physical therapy

We can also recommend adjunct treatments that people respond well to, such as acupuncture, hot and cold therapies, and massage therapy.

1. Get moving

One of the biggest challenges with OA is that joint pain and inflammation make it difficult to do the very thing that can improve joint health — exercise. 

This is why we want you to come see us so that we can manage your symptoms in a way that puts exercise back on the table. Once we get you comfortable, we want you to get out and move your body, which can help boost joint health by encouraging better circulation of healing resources.

1. Strengthen the muscles around your joints

Your body is designed so that you can support your joint health with the surrounding muscles. For example, if you have knee OA, it’s a great idea to relieve the bone-on-bone pressure inside your joint, which breaks down cartilage. The best way to do that is to strengthen the surrounding muscle groups, including your quads, hamstrings, and calves.

This same practice can be applied to almost all of your joints.

1. Shed excess pounds

One way OA can be accelerated is by carrying too many pounds. The fact is that more than 40% of adults in the United States have obesity, which can wear down the cartilage in the joints at a much faster rate.

So, if you’re overweight or have obesity, we can help you shed those pounds to relieve the pressure on your joints.

If you’d like a more personalized management plan for your OA, we’re happy to help set one up with you. To get that started, we invite you to contact us at our clinic in Chicago, Illinois, in The Loop, to schedule an appointment today.