Prevent rheumatoid arthritis pain with these seven joint protection techniques.
From MayoClinic.com
Joint protection is one strategy to help you manage your rheumatoid arthritis pain. Taking the time to think ahead and plan ways to avoid unnecessarily stressing your joints may help you reduce your rheumatoid arthritis pain. Arthritic joints can't tolerate as much stress, so pushing, pulling or twisting motions can be painful. Though you may want to work through your rheumatoid arthritis pain, doing so can aggravate the situation.
Joint protection: 7 techniques to manage rheumatoid arthritis pain
To avoid unnecessary joint strain and increased rheumatoid arthritis pain, follow these seven steps.
Step 1: Move each joint through its full pain-free range of motion at least once a day
This will help you maintain freedom of motion in your joints. The amount you're able to move each joint without rheumatoid arthritis pain may vary from day to day — take care not to overdo it. Keep movements slow and gentle — sudden jerking or bouncing can hurt your joints.
Step 2: Learn to understand and respect your rheumatoid arthritis pain
Understand the difference between the general discomfort of rheumatoid arthritis and the pain from overusing a joint. By noting the activity that stressed a joint, you can avoid repeating that movement. Pain that lasts more than an hour after an activity may indicate that the activity was too stressful. Think of ways that you can modify the action. Remember that you're more likely to damage your joints when they're painful and swollen.
Step 3: Be careful how you use your hands
You use your fingers in many day-to-day activities. Stressful positions and techniques may increase the risk of pain. You can perform most tasks in easier ways that put less deforming forces on your joints.
* Avoid positions that push your other fingers toward your little finger. For instance, avoid tasks that require forceful or prolonged gripping or pinching. Finger motions should be in the direction of your thumb whenever possible. For example, don't brush crumbs off a table with your palm flat on the table. Instead, turn your hand so that the little finger is resting on the table and the palm is facing you. Then push the crumbs off the table.
* Avoid making a tight fist. Use tools with thick or ergonomically designed handles, which make them easier to hold.
* Avoid pinching items between your thumb and your fingers. Hold a book, plate or mug in the palms of your hands. If you're reading for long periods, use a book holder. Instead of a clutch-style purse, select one with a shoulder strap.
Step 4: Use good body mechanics
The way you position your body largely affects how much strain you put on your joints. Proper body mechanics allow you to use your body more efficiently and conserve energy.
* When you're sitting, the proper height for a work surface is 2 inches below your bent elbow. Make sure you have good back and foot support when you sit. Your forearms and upper legs should be well supported, resting level with the floor.
* If you type at a keyboard for long periods and your chair doesn't have arms, consider using wrist or forearm supports. An angled work surface for reading and writing is easier on your neck.
* When you're standing, the height of your work surface should enable you to work comfortably without stooping.
* Increase the height of your chair to decrease stress on your hips and knees as you get up and down.
* To pick up items from the floor, stoop by bending your knees and hips. Or sit in a chair and bend over.
* Carry heavy objects close to your chest, supporting the weight on your forearms.
* Maintain good posture. Poor posture causes uneven weight distribution and may strain your ligaments and muscles.
Step 5: Use the strongest joint available for the job
Save your weaker joints for the specific jobs that only they can accomplish. Throughout the day, favor large joints. For example, carry objects with your palm open, distributing the weight equally over your forearm. Slide objects along a counter or workbench rather than lifting them. When opening cabinets or heavy doors, use a loop that you can pull with your wrist or forearm to decrease stress on your fingers.
Step 6: Avoid keeping your joints in the same position for a prolonged period of time
Don't give your joints the chance to become stiff — keep them moving. When writing or doing handwork, release your grip every 10 to 15 minutes, or when your hand feels fatigued. On long car trips, get out of the car, stretch and move around at least every hour. While watching television, get up and move around every half-hour.
Step 7: Balance periods of rest and activity during the day
Effectively managing your workload throughout the day can help you avoid overworked joints. Work at a steady, moderate pace and avoid rushing. Rest before you become fatigued or sore. Alternate light and moderate activities throughout the day. And take periodic stretch breaks.
One step at a time
Remember, you don't have to make all of these changes at once. By gradually incorporating these methods into your day-to-day activities, you're more likely to stick with them.
Keep an open mind about how you do everyday tasks. You might have to change some old habits, but the reward is that your joints may cause you less pain.
Showing posts with label arthritis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arthritis. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Vitamin D versus cancer
By Dr. Philip S. Chua
THE ROLE of vitamin D as a cancer-preventing and fighting agent has been on the forefront of medical news these days. Medically known as calciferol, this vitamin was discovered in 1918, in cod liver oil, and popularly called today as the Sunshine Vitamin (HTH column, Cebu Daily News, 7-27-06).
New studies revealed that “vitamin D regulates cell proliferation and can hold in check the sort of wild cell growth that leads to cancer.”
Several studies showed that among people taking high dose of vitamin D there was a decrease in the rate of at least 18 types of cancer and autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and 40% less risk for multiple sclerosis. Statistical analysis estimates that “thousands of caner deaths could be avoided in the United States each year if everyone gets enough vitamin D.”
Vitamin D is the only vitamin humans can produce on their own, when exposed to the ultraviolet B from the sun. In 15 minutes, a fair-skinned person, outside on a sunny day, can generate as much as 10,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D. This vitamin is recently in the limelight for being a “blockbuster” nutrient that confers even greater health benefits than previously recognized by the medical community. This “re-discovery” has put vitamin D in an altogether new perspective and importance.
Which vitamin D is preferred?
Vitamin D3 (choleciferol) is the recommended form since it is better absorbed and better utilized by the body compared to vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol).
What foods contain vitamin D?
Not many foods contain vitamin D. Milk is fortified with 125 IU of vitamin per glass. The following contain some vitamin D, but in themselves, do not provide the minimum daily requirement: organ meats, eggs, fish like tuna, mackerel, sardines, salmon, and herring. Having a balanced diet with enough calcium (1000-1500 mg) and vitamin D (400 IU daily) will prevent osteoporosis (thinning of the bones, a common cause of fractures). Exposure to the sun for about 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week is enough help in the body’s production of vitamin D.
How different is D from the other vitamins?
Besides being unique in the sense that it is the only vitamin our body can make on its own, vitamin D is also the only vitamin that influences the entire body, as the findings have shown. Receptors that respond to vitamin D have been discovered in almost all the various kinds of human cells, from the brain to the bones.
What else is vitamin D good for?
Besides the old role vitamin D was popular for (boosting absorption of calcium which is essential for bone health), vitamin D has also been found over the past decades to have a broad range of added benefits. This includes the ability to help fight cancers and diabetes. Sixty-three independent studies showed that high normal level of vitamin D reduced the risk of developing colon, breast and ovarian cancer by 50 percent. It is also a “pivotal feedstock” for a hormone that protects muscles, and inhibits autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, lupus and inflammatory bowel illnesses. It also helps in easing some body aches and pain.
Can the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D be isolated?
Since it has been proven that the higher the dose of vitamin D, the greater its anti-cancer effect is, and since taking high doses of vitamin D might lead to elevation of the blood calcium to a toxic level, it would be ideal of the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D was separated from its other functions and effects. A promising reports on this issue comes from Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, as published in the journal Molecular Cell.
“We found that we might be able to separate the two functions at the molecular level, and this raises the possibility that vitamin D can be chemically modified into a drug that will only have anticancer effects,” said Professor Stephen Byers, Ph.D., who, with Salimuddin Shah, Ph.D., spearheaded an international group of scientists in this research.
How does one prevent vitamin D deficiency?
Health education and awareness are essential. Human breast milk does not have enough vitamin D (40 IU/L), unlike fortified cow’s milk (400 IU/L). Babies who are breastfed should have a physician’s advice for possible oral supplement of vitamin D (300 IU per day) from birth to 6 months, Dr. Michael F. Hollick of the Boston University School of Medicine stated in their NIH-funded study, which involved 16,500 subjects, they have “found that lactating women need about 6,000 IU a day to transfer enough vitamin D into their milk to supply adequate amount to a nursing infant.” In more urgent cases, like the studies done among adolescents in the Far East, one does of intramuscular injection of 2.5 mg (100,000 IU) of ergocalciferol given in the Fall has increased the plasma level of vitamin D that lasted till Spring the following year.
Experts now say that, together with normal sun exposure, 1,000 IU is the amount of vitamin D3 tablet we all should be getting daily. While researches have also shown the safety of the daily intake of up to 2,000 IU, studies are still underway to determine if the intake of 5,000 IU daily is better, is safe, and is devoid of the potential toxic side-effect (dangerous increase of blood level of calcium). I strongly recommend that you check with your physician first before starting yourself on this regimen.
The wonders of science are indeed amazing. They alone are not enough to ward off diseases, like hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc. We still have to do our share by not abusing our body with an unhealthy diet of saturated fat and high carbohydrates, lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol and/or drug abuse, and lack of stress reduction program (R&R, mini-vacation).
There is, indeed, no substitute for a healthy lifestyle to maintain good health and maximize a happy and rewarding longevity.
THE ROLE of vitamin D as a cancer-preventing and fighting agent has been on the forefront of medical news these days. Medically known as calciferol, this vitamin was discovered in 1918, in cod liver oil, and popularly called today as the Sunshine Vitamin (HTH column, Cebu Daily News, 7-27-06).
New studies revealed that “vitamin D regulates cell proliferation and can hold in check the sort of wild cell growth that leads to cancer.”
Several studies showed that among people taking high dose of vitamin D there was a decrease in the rate of at least 18 types of cancer and autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and 40% less risk for multiple sclerosis. Statistical analysis estimates that “thousands of caner deaths could be avoided in the United States each year if everyone gets enough vitamin D.”
Vitamin D is the only vitamin humans can produce on their own, when exposed to the ultraviolet B from the sun. In 15 minutes, a fair-skinned person, outside on a sunny day, can generate as much as 10,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D. This vitamin is recently in the limelight for being a “blockbuster” nutrient that confers even greater health benefits than previously recognized by the medical community. This “re-discovery” has put vitamin D in an altogether new perspective and importance.
Which vitamin D is preferred?
Vitamin D3 (choleciferol) is the recommended form since it is better absorbed and better utilized by the body compared to vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol).
What foods contain vitamin D?
Not many foods contain vitamin D. Milk is fortified with 125 IU of vitamin per glass. The following contain some vitamin D, but in themselves, do not provide the minimum daily requirement: organ meats, eggs, fish like tuna, mackerel, sardines, salmon, and herring. Having a balanced diet with enough calcium (1000-1500 mg) and vitamin D (400 IU daily) will prevent osteoporosis (thinning of the bones, a common cause of fractures). Exposure to the sun for about 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week is enough help in the body’s production of vitamin D.
How different is D from the other vitamins?
Besides being unique in the sense that it is the only vitamin our body can make on its own, vitamin D is also the only vitamin that influences the entire body, as the findings have shown. Receptors that respond to vitamin D have been discovered in almost all the various kinds of human cells, from the brain to the bones.
What else is vitamin D good for?
Besides the old role vitamin D was popular for (boosting absorption of calcium which is essential for bone health), vitamin D has also been found over the past decades to have a broad range of added benefits. This includes the ability to help fight cancers and diabetes. Sixty-three independent studies showed that high normal level of vitamin D reduced the risk of developing colon, breast and ovarian cancer by 50 percent. It is also a “pivotal feedstock” for a hormone that protects muscles, and inhibits autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, lupus and inflammatory bowel illnesses. It also helps in easing some body aches and pain.
Can the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D be isolated?
Since it has been proven that the higher the dose of vitamin D, the greater its anti-cancer effect is, and since taking high doses of vitamin D might lead to elevation of the blood calcium to a toxic level, it would be ideal of the anti-cancer properties of vitamin D was separated from its other functions and effects. A promising reports on this issue comes from Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, as published in the journal Molecular Cell.
“We found that we might be able to separate the two functions at the molecular level, and this raises the possibility that vitamin D can be chemically modified into a drug that will only have anticancer effects,” said Professor Stephen Byers, Ph.D., who, with Salimuddin Shah, Ph.D., spearheaded an international group of scientists in this research.
How does one prevent vitamin D deficiency?
Health education and awareness are essential. Human breast milk does not have enough vitamin D (40 IU/L), unlike fortified cow’s milk (400 IU/L). Babies who are breastfed should have a physician’s advice for possible oral supplement of vitamin D (300 IU per day) from birth to 6 months, Dr. Michael F. Hollick of the Boston University School of Medicine stated in their NIH-funded study, which involved 16,500 subjects, they have “found that lactating women need about 6,000 IU a day to transfer enough vitamin D into their milk to supply adequate amount to a nursing infant.” In more urgent cases, like the studies done among adolescents in the Far East, one does of intramuscular injection of 2.5 mg (100,000 IU) of ergocalciferol given in the Fall has increased the plasma level of vitamin D that lasted till Spring the following year.
Experts now say that, together with normal sun exposure, 1,000 IU is the amount of vitamin D3 tablet we all should be getting daily. While researches have also shown the safety of the daily intake of up to 2,000 IU, studies are still underway to determine if the intake of 5,000 IU daily is better, is safe, and is devoid of the potential toxic side-effect (dangerous increase of blood level of calcium). I strongly recommend that you check with your physician first before starting yourself on this regimen.
The wonders of science are indeed amazing. They alone are not enough to ward off diseases, like hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc. We still have to do our share by not abusing our body with an unhealthy diet of saturated fat and high carbohydrates, lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol and/or drug abuse, and lack of stress reduction program (R&R, mini-vacation).
There is, indeed, no substitute for a healthy lifestyle to maintain good health and maximize a happy and rewarding longevity.
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