Although there are over one hundred different types of arthritis, the affliction that causes severe pain in your joints and muscles, the three most common types are osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis.
Although arthritis is a painful and often debilitating disease, you can minimize the effects of this pain by taking care of the joints themselves.
Anyone can be affected at any time in their life by arthritis, from the youngest to the elderly and everyone in-between.
However, it's perhaps understandable that it is most likely to occur in people of an older age, since their bones and joints will have endured more natural wear and tear over the years than their younger counterparts.
As you get older, more dead cells and toxic waste will form in your blood, leading to the degradation of your joint bones and letting arthritis in.
However, you can combat this by using fat-based acids and rubbing them on the affected areas.
Since this will slow down the process of wear and tear and deterioration of your joints, it reduces the chance of the inflammation that causes the pain in the first place.
Some recommended oil treatments include, Primrose oil, NKO oil, Borage oil.
Organizations like the Mayo Clinic also advise that you are more cautionary when going about your everyday business, and this in turn will protect your joints.
For instance, they suggest: Instead of carrying things with your fingers wrapped around them, carry the object palm-side up, which will help distribute the weight more evenly and keep the pressure off problem areas such as finger joints.
Protect your little finger more.
An example of this would be to brush crumbs on a worktop or table TOWARDS you, as opposed to away from you.
This stops undue stress being placed on the weakest finger on your hand.
When reading, instead of using your thumb and forefingers to hold the book in place, allow it to sit in the palm of your hand.
Even better, treat yourself to a little book holder, to take the pressure off your fingers altogether Continuously exercise the affected joints.
Stiffness will soon set in permanently if you don't keep moving the digits and joints that are causing the problem, so take the time to set aside a portion of the day where you can simply move the joints and keep them supple.
The best way to ensure your joints are being protected is to differentiate between arthritic problems and normal everyday joint stiffness.
By knowing what caused you to experience the pain in the first place, you can avoid that in the future, allowing you to concentrate on the more important aspect of dealing with your arthritic pain.