Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment - Heat Therapy

Heat Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

pic source: Dietkundali.com

Whenever my grandma used to get muscle pains, she used to put a hot water pad on her cramps or pains. I grow up learning that heat treatment eases pain. That is true. Heat helps you bear the pain and relaxes muscles. The same treatment can reduce the Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) pain, Heat treatment is the most common practice use in India to ease pain and it is widely recommended home remedy by doctors. My grandmother was not a doctor and you don’t need to be either to use the  heat theraphy for Rheumatoid Arthritis at treatment. Here are some home Heat therapy tips you can make use of.

• Warm Water Bath
• Heating Pad
• Paraffin Bath

Warm water bath :

Taking a warm water bath helps relax muscles. If you have a bath tub, soaking for 15 to 20 minutes in warm water helps the muscles to relax. You don’t need to take a hot water therapy from a professional, don’t you?

A warm / hot shower can also assist in reducing the stiffness caused by rheumatoid arthritis. If there is no water shortage in your area, you can add to your shower, a regulating shower-head massager which is relatively cost effective and easy to install. This therapy can be useful in particularly winters.

After a warm bath, if you cover your joints with winter dress, it will prolong the gain.

Heating pad :

A heating pad is one more nice thought, but remember that in comparison with dry heat, moist heat enters more deeply. Although you can buy hot packs or dry heating pads, you can make hot pack at home tool.

Heat a moist folded towel on a hot pan for 10 seconds and you get your moist heat pad. Alternatively you can use a dry towel also. You can heat towel in a microwave oven too for 20 seconds. The time varies from type of cloth, thickness and type of heating source. Apply the hot towel on your palms before putting on your joints. This will prevent heat shocks and burns.

Paraffin bath :

Many therapists advocate a paraffin bath. In this an electric heated pot or small tub is used to melt the wax. Your feet or hands are immersed into the wax which is maintained at safer temperature. When wax solidifies again, the therapist insulates the joints with a cover to retain the heat. This bath is generally 20 minutes long; thereafter the wax is peeled off. If you are buying the paraffin bath kits for home purpose, talk to your therapist for recommendations. Make sure you read all the cautions before you use.

You also must do analysis of antioxidants such as vitamin A, C and E along with omega 3 present in your food so that you can increase or decrease their consumption to cope of RA. 

These tips may help you in relieving the pain of RA . I strongly recommend that  before using  these tips you must consult your doctor first.

Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)- Definition and Treatment

This post will describe clearly about Rheumatoid Arthritis( RA).  Definition of  RA in terms of Dietitian and how RA affects you .Click here for Detailed information on Rheumatoid arthritis 

Until current day many conventional cure for RA are available(check more on wikipedia). But most of them have issues in terms of their efficacy and safety. There are many alternative therapies available such as antibiotics, botanical, food supplements and dietary modifications which are increasingly being used and studied.

In addition, these alternative therapies other than antibiotics comprise a low rate of adverse effects. Considering such treatments as an option over the conventional treatments can potentially benefit many RA patients.

Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis from a dietitian perspective

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is defined as chronic systemic disorder that is evident as inflammation of multiple body joints.

How severe is the RA depends upon person to person. Some people experience little pain and uneasiness, some experience severe inflammation including joint damage and deformity.

RA sometimes can produce extra-articular symptoms, including vasculitis, rheumatoid nodules, anemia, heart or lung disease and peripheral neuropathy. Even if the cause of RA is not known, it is usually termed an autoimmune disease.

It has been considered that RA may be an expression of the immune reaction to an infectious agent. On the other hand, a number of susceptible contributing agents have been studied, but none has been credibly verified to cause RA.

Picture  below shows, how Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) problem affects our hands.


Pic credit: Dietkundali.com

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) Treatment and Therapy

Traditional therapy for RA typically starts with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, called as NSAIDs.

Recently, a similar class of medicine known as COX-2 inhibitors is also being used to treat RA. Severe cases of RA are treated with glucocorticoids which are also called as “disease-modifying drugs” (such as methotrexate or gold). One thing common in the above drugs is none of them cures RA. Other common thing is they all are likely to cause considerable adverse effects. While the COX-2 inhibitors enjoy a lower rate of gastrointestinal reaction than NSAIDs. 

If  you know where you are lacking the proper nutrition in your daily diet then you can easily prevent the Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms. For that, you must create your Balanced Diet Chart with proper suggestion.

Many doctors and patients are looking other solutions for treating the RA citing the risks and restrictions of conventional therapy. The most frequently favored alternative solution includes nutritional supplements, antibiotics, dietary modifications and botanical.

Many researchers have observed a varying response to the treatments among patients some patients realize very little or sometimes no benefit, on the other hand some show dramatic progress to the point of getting no signs of RA for many years.

These alternative treatments have been adopted both as an add-on and an option to traditional therapy. Other than antibiotics, most of the alternative treatments have relatively no side effects.

RA can cause in late thirties and forties also and can be a severe and at times crippling disease. Since there are risks and limitations to the conventional therapy, many practitioners and patients are looking for other ways to cure the disease.

Alternative therapies such as supplements, dietary modifications are becoming popular now. While not every person has been benefited fully, almost all people have responded positively and there have been no adverse side effects also. Considering the facts these treatments should, therefore, be seriously considered by the people seeking treatment.