Experiencing true joint pain relief in your hands without resorting to surgery requires a combination of treatment and lifestyle changes.
Joint pain in your hands can result in the inability to hold onto things, write, or even tie your shoes.
Hand pain does not have to stop you.
If you are tired of joint pain and stiffness in your hands and are not ready to consider surgery, then keep reading to learn how to experience joint pain relief in the hands.
Determine the cause of the pain
First, you need to see your doctor to determine the cause of the pain. If your doctor feels it is necessary, he or she will send you to a rheumatologist who addresses pain from several forms of arthritis.
While discussing options with your doctor, ask if you can try alternative methods of treatment including diet and exercise changes and natural remedies in combination with traditional medical interventions.
Facts on arthritis in the hands
Here are a few facts concerning arthritis in the hands
- Women are more prone than men to have osteoarthritis (OA)
- There is no cure for any type of arthritis in the hands
- Treatments focus on alleviating the pain and handling the underlying condition
- In rare cases, a doctor may advise surgery to repair a severely impaired finger joint
- Both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis affect the hands
Symptoms of arthritis
- Pain when moving or at rest
- Swelling of the joints
- Stiffness of the joints
- Deformity of the joints
- Weakness and loss of muscle
- Loss of function in the joints and muscles
Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms:
- Joint pain, stiffness, swelling affecting multiple joints
- Symmetrical symptoms affecting both sides of the body
- Morning stiffness lasting longer than 30 minutes
- Systemic symptoms like fatigue, fever, and malaise
Osteoarthritis Symptoms:
- Joint pain and stiffness usually affecting hands, fingers or knees
- Joints on one side affected worse than on the other side
- Morning stiffness lasting fewer than 30 minutes
- Possible spine and hip pain as well
Methods of joint pain relief in the hands
There are traditional medical treatments and alternative all-natural treatments. Often, you can combine therapies from both to relieve the joint pain in your hands.
Traditional medical treatments
Traditional treatments include
- NSAIDs such as such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium
- Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs for RA
- Biological drugs like Humira for RA
- Oral steroids to reduce inflammation
- Cortisone shots to reduce inflammation
- Splints
Alternative, all-natural treatments
Alternative, all-natural treatments include the following:
- Heat/cold therapy will help ease pain and reduce inflammation when used alternately 10 minutes on and two hours off. You can also soak your hands in warm water first thing in the morning. Clay packs, gel packs, and even homemade rice packs can be used.
- Exercises and stretches to help increase range of motion and strengthen the muscles around the joint.
- Capsaicin creams and rubs
- Reduction of the consumption of food and drinks that aggravate inflammation and pain.
- Essential oils such as nutmeg, peppermint, or orange massaged into the joint area to promote circulation and relieve pain. These can be used several times a day and often have no side effects or interaction with medications, but check with your doctor, pharmacist, or herbalist before trying an essential oil.
- Acupuncture
- Massage therapy
Using alternative and traditional therapies together
Speak to your doctor about using alternative all-natural therapies in conjunction with traditional therapies. He or she may be able to direct you physical therapists, herbalists, and practitioners in the art of acupuncture and massage.
These therapies can be combined with, anti-inflammatories, injections, steroids, biologicals, and cortisone.
Combining traditional and all-natural therapies can reduce the inflammation and joint pain in the hands while reducing the need to have surgery.
Nutmeg medicinal uses include relieving pain, aiding in digestion, treating insomnia, improving brain health, correcting bad breath, and protecting the skin.
Nutmeg spice can be used to add flavor to foods such as pies, cakes, cookies, and sauces-next time you make alfredo sauce, use a little nutmeg for added flavor.
Tips for dealing with joint pain in the hands
While you need to stay active to keep your joints from becoming stiffer and having increased pain, there is no need to continue to do things that cause undue pain.
The following tips can help you with daily activities such as getting dressed or working in the kitchen. Take frequent short breaks during daily activities, but remember, these are only short breaks-do not give up on doing activities that you can do even if you can’t do them the way you used to.
Dressing
- Choose loose-fitting clothes
- Look for soft, stretchy fabrics
- Go for elastic waists
- Try front-hook or zip-up bras
- Replace laces with velcro
Kitchen duties
- Use tools like a mandolin, blender, a small food processor with a stick blender attachment, or a larger processor for chopping and stirring
- Try under-counter or electric jar openers as they are terrific for people with hand pain
- When purchasing utensils, buy those with large rubber grips-if they are ergonomically shaped, that is even better
- Sit to do your chores when possible
- Use a stand mixer when possible
- If you do not have a slow cooker, purchase one
- Reorganize so that the things you need and use are easily accessible without straining
- Recruit the kids or spouse to do the dishes
Following the tips above, exercising your hands, modifying your diet, and combining traditional and all-natural remedies like Meg Relief can provide joint relief pain for your hands. In fact, many of the all-natural remedies can fit into your day like using heat or cold therapy or massage nutmeg essential oil onto the area.
You may have to try different combinations of therapies to find the combination that work best for you at relieving your hand pain and stiffness so that you can continue to do your daily activities.
