Chronic back pain is one thing, but suffering from arthritis can get excessively painful, especially when your joints start swelling. You can literally see your knuckles, knees, and other joints getting reddish as the inflammation begins to develop.
Within a few minutes, the pain becomes so unbearable that you can’t help but take a painkiller. That doesn’t solve anything for the long term, though. Painkillers relieve your pain momentarily. What you need is something natural, something that doesn’t come with side-effects. And most importantly, you need to make some lifestyle changes to deal with arthritis efficiently.
By lifestyle changes, you may think of changing your diet or exercising regularly. Well, it’s good to follow all that, but today, you will learn about some assistive devices that help arthritis patients.
First of all, that natural painkiller you just read about isn’t necessarily something you would consume. It can come in the form of an ointment containing natural ingredients derived from herbs, flowers, leaves, stems, and roots. You need to apply it topically to your joints to relieve the sudden pain that occurs due to inflammation. Apart from this, here are a few devices you should also use at home:
1. Adaptive utensils
Lightweight spoons, forks, knives, pots, and pans put less pressure on your hands. These utensils come with wide, no-slip, rubber handles. You don’t need to bend your fingers too much to grip these items. This essentially helps you avoid triggering inflammation and irritation in the joints.
2. Smart lights
The main issue with arthritis is limited movement. It takes a few minutes for you to move from the chair to the bed. Your joints take some time to free themselves before you can walk slowly. And so, instead of using traditional lights where you need to get up to switch them on or off, you can switch to smart lights. All you have to do then is command the light to become dim or turn off whenever you want to sleep or go to another room.
3. Electric toothbrush
A regular toothbrush has a slim handle. This means you need to apply more pressure to grip it properly. Instead, you can use an electric toothbrush that comes with a thicker and bigger handle. Remember the concept of adaptive utensils above? The electric toothbrush with a thicker handle works similarly. It’s easier to grip and you don’t have to apply pressure on your fingers and knuckles while brushing.
4. Universal stand assist
Only arthritis patients understand the pain they have to go through while getting up from the sofa or a chair. Sitting down is a relief, but standing up almost brings tears to your eyes because of the immense pain. But with a universal stand assist, you can now forget about those painful moments. Answer the door or pick up the phone within a few seconds with the help of this device. The metal frame tucks under almost any couch or chair. It also comes with adjustable height so that anyone can use it.
It’s surprising how people are coming up with new products every year to deal with arthritis. While the application of the ointment with natural ingredients keeps the pain away, the above devices make life easier by assisting you in activities that would otherwise be painful to you.