There are many different forms of therapy that a person can engage in with arthritis or any other condition out there.  There are natural forms of healing, prescription medications, relaxation at your local Spa and so on.  Relaxation is a key factor when it comes to people that have arthritis because did you know that adding stress into your life will actually cause your arthritic pains to worsen, as well various forms of inflammation?  You wouldn’t think that by having a lot of stress in your life would cause your arthritis to get worse, but it does because when you become tensed up, your muscles and joints will act accordingly to that.  Today, we are actually going to be taking a look into hot and cold therapies for people which suffer with arthritis.

Joint Pain and Heat Therapy

By adding heat to your daily routine, such as a hot bath or shower, you will not only help to relax your muscles, but you will also increase the blood circulation in your body and this will be great if you suffer with arthritis because by increasing proper blood flow in your body, you will be helping to diminish the pains and inflammation that comes along with arthritis.  What I would personally recommend you do is when you come home from a long day of work, I would come home and sit on the heating pad while you eat dinner or watch some television.  It’s always important to try and get as much heat on your joints and muscles as you can each day, okay? 

What will heat therapy do for people that suffer with arthritis?  That’s a great question because if you are one that actually does suffer from arthritic pains, you have probably tired all that you can when it comes to relieving your pains and inflammation flareups.  By applying heat therapy to your joints and muscles, this will help the pain to go down in your joints because your joints are being relaxed, simple as that.  Heat therapy is also a great way for a person to wind down from a busy or stressful day.  Stress is a key factor that plays into arthritic flareups and inflammation and when we can get our stress under control, we will tend to find out that our arthritic pain isn’t as severe as when we don’t take care of our selves in the right format.  You can even make your own heating pad with washcloths and apply pressure onto the afflicted joint or muscle.  There are so many ways to introduce heat therapy into your life when you have arthritis.  The most popular form of heat therapy are those hot compresses to apply right on the afflicted joint, as well taking a hot bath or shower.

Joint Pain and Cold Therapy

Did you know that cold therapy is just as effective in relieving arthritic pains as heat therapy is?  That’s right, as they both have benefits in which people with arthritis can profit from if used correctly.  A lot of the times, arthritic pain will tend to feel as though it’s burning the joint or muscle and this can cause a lot of discomfort for people which suffer with this condition.  Imagine having an itch that you absolutely cannot scratch.  Wouldn’t that be absolutely horrid to experience?  What I would personally recommend you do if you are feeling a burning sensation from your arthritic pain is the following.  You could go get an ice pack from the freezer or a bag of frozen vegetables and simply apply the bags to the area on your arms or legs that’s burning.  That’s all that you will need to do.  There are some people which are brave enough to take an ice bath and that’s where you run cold water and fill the tub with ice cubs and just soak in it for X amount of time.  All this kind of cold therapy will help your joints and muscles to not feel as though they are burning through your skin.  If you apply a cold pack to the swelling in your arms or legs, this will also help to bring down your puffiness of that infected joint or muscle.