If you've ever crawled out of bed in the morning aching as if you'd played a mean game of rugby in your sleep, heard your knees creaking as you descended the stairs, required three ibuprofen before you could bend over to tie your shoes, and/or received an embroidered sampler with the words "My Back Hurts" for your birthday, then this article is for you .
Making some simple changes in your diet and daily activities -- even the way you sit -- coupled with taking a few key supplements a day can save a lot of wear and tear on your joints and ligaments as well as reduce your pain. Here's a starting lineup of tips that help you where you hurt.
Sip a cup of green tea in the morning. Polyphenols called catechins in green tea prevent arthritis in mice and significantly reduce cartilage damage in humans.
When you sit, keep both feet on the ground. Crossing your legs cuts off your blood circulation and pulls your back out of alignment .
Switch over to spicy foods when your arthritis flares. Spices such as cayenne pepper, ginger, and turmeric contain compounds that reduce swelling and block a brain chemical that transmits pain signals. So head to the bookstore for some Mexican, Indian, and Thai cookbooks, or keep a bottle of hot sauce on your table at all times.
Empty out (or better yet, have someone else empty them for you) any cabinet or shelf below waist level. You'd be surprised how much unnecessary bending people do to get at those low places, says Howard Pecker, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon in Rahway, New Jersey. He gives this advice to all his patients with arthritis. They tell him it makes their lives much less painful. Just fill the empty cabinets with less-used items, like the turkey roaster that only comes out at Thanksgiving.
Use a wrist rest to keep your wrists straight, not to rest your wrists on. Resting your wrists on the pad when typing can compress soft tissues -- such as tendons, nerves, and blood vessels -- in your forearms, reducing blood flow to your wrists and fingers, says Peter W. Johnson, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Washington in Seattle. This, in turn, can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel located inside your wrists and ultimately lead to nerve damage. Instead, use the pad only for support during typing breaks. Even then, most experts recommend resting the palms of your hands, rather than your wrists, on the pad to reduce the risk of injury, he says dermes vs medilase.
Goodbye to Pain