The Christmas holidays are closer than ever and you know what that means – family gatherings, delicious dinners and new memories being created right there! So you would not like risking anything to go wrong at your Christmas dinner, don’t you?
You concentrate on preparing the most delicious dishes and buy everyone a nice gift. And right there, something is forgotten.
We are talking about all those Arthritis patients out there who during the preparations for their perfect Christmas dinner often seem to forget about their joint pain.
And forgetting about it is a good thing, it means that currently, it is not there to remind you that it still exists. But, you would not risk it flaring it up during your already crazy Christmas season, would you?
So you ask yourself, what can I do?
And that is probably what brought you here. Luckily for you, we are here to offer some help and achievement by sharing 7 awesome tips and tricks that you can use during this year’s Christmas season to prevent any joint pain flare-ups from happening!
Let’s start!
What do you need to know about Arthritis?
- Arthritis is a term that refers to a group of over 100 different types of this condition that characterizes itself with common symptoms but still has certain differences that split it into over 100 different types.
- The most common types of Arthritis are probably Rheumatoid arthritis, Osteoarthritis, and Ankylosing Spondylitis.
- According to the Statistics and Facts by Arthritis Foundation, it affects both women and men of all ages, including children. Even dogs and cats are known to be affected by this difficult condition.
- Currently, there is no found cure for Arthritis that is supposed to treat all symptoms once and for all according to the Versus Arthritis and other sources. There are only treatment options that offer symptom relief for a little while, until the next flare-up hits.
- The common symptoms include joint pain, swelling, redness, and inflammation of the affected joint or joints. As a result of these symptoms, the range of motion in the affected joint/joints reduces and with time, certain disability develops, especially if the condition is left untreated.
- There are a lot of factors known to cause these joint pain flare-ups including stress, cold weather, obesity and so on.
7 simple tips and tricks that will help you prevent joint pain this Christmas season
1. Dress warmly – Perhaps you should reconsider that dress that you have chosen to wear this Christmas season and try to find something that will keep your joints nice and warm this Christmas season!
Do not be afraid to use a couple of layers to make sure that you are, in fact, keeping your joints warm. Reumatol Clin. 2013 study concluded that cold weather is known to cause worsening of the signs and symptoms of joint pain. So do not risk getting a flare because of the cold weather!
2. Stay active – Getting prepared for the Christmas season can easily become time-consuming. So it not uncommon for people to give up on their usual routines to make time to complete all the preparations. But we alert you not to give up on your exercising routine.
Make the time to spend at least half an hour exercising. And in this situation, exercising at home would save a lot of your time, plus, you will not risk exposing your joints to the cold weather and causing any more pain.
Keep your joints healthy and strong as you complete your exercising for the day.
3. Do not forget about your Vitamin D supplements – Vitamin D has a vital role in our bodies, and, yes – it does have a beneficial effect for our joints, as well, especially knowing that low levels of Vitamin D in the body have been linked to the body’s increased sensitivity to pain according to a research published in the Pain Manag. 2015. This can easily explain why you are feeling those common joint pain flare-ups.
So introduce a new solder in your fight against Arthritis and joint pain – your favorite Vitamin D supplement!
4. Reconsider the way you eat – All of us want to look great for our Christmas dinner, don’t we?
what is a better way to look our best than eating right and exercising?
We already mentioned the importance to stay active even during the winter season due to the beneficial effects that physical activity has on your joints. But now we what to talk about the importance of a healthy diet.
Obesity poses a great risk not only for the development of heart disease and diabetes but also for Arthritis and common joint pain flare-ups.
So starting from today, consider changing your diet a bit and introducing some of the most popular anti-inflammatory foods such as broccoli, leafy green vegetables, salmon and tuna, turmeric, Vitamin C sources and so on.
5. Enjoy a long massage – All that stress that gathers up will evidently cause some problems and you better make sure that they would not turn to be joint pain flare-ups. So this Christmas season does something nice for you and relieves all that stress that it has been gathering up by getting a nice, relaxing massage.
6. Consider taking a joint supplement – There is a wide variety of Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements that you can choose from that you will most surely benefit from.
A proper joint supplement is designed to lubricate your joints and provide pain, swelling, and inflammation relief.
Regular use of the joint supplement will help you prevent any joint pain flare-ups and enjoy your Christmas dinner without any problem!
7. Hydrate your body – We all love drinking champagne or mulled wine as a tradition during the Christmas season. But this season, you might consider drinking more water, freshly made juice and smoothies instead. That does not mean that you should avoid any alcohol intake whatsoever during the Christmas season. It means that you should choose better ways to hydrate your body if you are interested in preventing joint pain this season.
Drinking water along with your wine or champagne or whatever choice of drink you have for the day will help you avoid getting a headache the next morning!
Conclusion
What we hope to accomplish with this article, is to raise the awareness of Arthritis patients to keep better care of their health, especially during the Christmas season.
The truth is that this season is filled with a lot of factors that have been linked to causing a worsening of the Arthritis symptoms, especially the joint pain.
So what we want to point out are all the things that you should avoid and offer 7 of the best techniques that you can use to fight Arthritis flare-ups and give yourself a chance to enjoy a wonderful Christmas season as you have imagined.
All of these techniques are actually small and not at all time-consuming activities that are supposed to keep you on the right track and let you enjoy your Christmas season as you intended to without any swelling, redness or pain whatsoever.