Understanding Arthritis Pain

Managing your arthritis pain can be the hardest task of having arthritis. But you can learn to deal with it and its impact on your life. The first step is knowing which type of arthritis or condition you have, because that will ultimately determine your treatment. Before learning different management techniques, however, it's important to understand some concepts about pain.

Chronic Arthritis Pain

Chronic pain can often be controlled but is never cured. It is this type of pain that will often limit a person’s activities. With time and age, people who suffer from arthritis pain will probably see an increase in the pain as well as a decrease in daily activities. Chronic arthritis pain is often severe and never goes away permanently.

Acute Arthritis Pain

Acute arthritis pain can flare up and last for a few hours or a few days. This type of pain becomes less intense as an area heals.

The degree of arthritis pain will vary from person to person. Some will only experience inflammation of the joints while other will also have inflammation of the tendons, which is known as tendonitis. People who develop tendonitis will experience more pain than those who only have joint pain. Often the amount of daily activity will affect the amount of pain one experiences.

What Causes Arthritis Pain?

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. It is a natural safety mechanism that prevents you from causing further damage to an affected area. After surgery the pain prevents you from doing things that could damage the surgical area. When you suffer from arthritis you will often experience joint pain and stiffness to the affected joint. There are two types of arthritis pain; acute pain which temporary in nature and chronic pain which is either recurring or permanent.

Preparing To See Your Doctor

If you have been diagnosed with arthritis you will need to stay under the care of your doctor to help them ease their symptoms. The more information you can provide your doctor the better he will be able to help you. Before your visit you need to keep a diary of your activities. This diary should include when you felt pain and the degree of that pain. Most doctors will ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10. They will also ask you to describe you pain such as aching, stinging, burning, etc. Keep up with the times of day when your pain is worse. Also keep up with your diet and the foods you have eaten since some foods will trigger arthritis pain.

Your doctor will also want to know if anything helped ease the pain. Things such as ice packs, heat packs, or over the counter analgesics may help with pain reduction. By providing your doctor with a full picture of when and how the pain is occurring will help him understand what is going on and how best to treat it. Early treatment will provide you with the best chance of controlling your arthritis pain as well as preventing more joint damage discomfort.

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