Key Tips to Living with Arthritis
The pain and stiffness of arthritis can make daily life difficult and exhausting. Therefore, if your senior loved one has arthritis it is important to have senior care that can help with the improvement of diet, exercise, and overall health. Senior care can help your senior loved one to relieve pain, improve function, and cope with difficult emotions.
Home Health Care in Chadds Ford PA: Arthritis Tips
Treatments for arthritis are not necessarily drug-based but can be included in daily function, most often in diet and exercise.
Some of the best tips for managing arthritis include weight loss, physical therapy, and complementary therapies, such as acupuncture and massage. To help with all of these, your senior can take on some simple factors to daily management including a healthy diet, mild exercise, senior care, and other therapies that can help conserve energy, protect joints, and accomplish daily tasks.
10 Key Tips to Living with Arthritis through Diet and Exercise
1.)Keep moving. Avoid sitting still for too long. For example, when working at a desk, sitting and reading, or watching TV, get up and stretch every 15 minutes or so.
2.)Avoid joint stress. Avoid positions or movements that put extra stress on joints. If you have hand arthritis, avoid opening tight jars (twisting movement), and attempt solutions like setting the jar on a cloth, lean on the jar with your palm, and turning the lid using a shoulder motion. There are also wall-mounted jar openers that grip lids, leaving both hands free to turn the jar.
3.)Discover your strength. Use your strongest joints and muscles, like an arm or shoulder rather than finger and wrist joints to push open heavy doors. Reduce hip or knee stress on stairs by leading with the stronger leg going up and the weaker leg going down.
4.)Plan ahead. Simplify life by eliminating unnecessary activities, organizing work and storage areas, and storing frequently used items within easy reach. Stock duplicate household items in several places (e.g. kitchen and bathrooms with cleaning supplies).
5.)Use labor-saving items and adaptive aids. Electric can openers and mixers help in the kitchen and automatic toilet bowl cleaners help in the bathroom. Different devices help reduce bending, stretching, twisting.
6.)Make home modifications. Casters on furniture can make house cleaning easier, including grab bars mounted over tubs for people who have trouble getting up, or a suction mat in the tub to prevent falls. A bathing stool in the tub or shower is good for people who have arthritis in the legs.
7.)Motivate your loved ones to ask for help. This is hard for seniors, but having senior care consistently available, help is already there. Independence helps self-esteem, but help is necessary for safety and wellness. Therefore, senior care can offer a great amount of support and assistance without being too overbearing.
8.)Add Omega-3. More than they are assumed to have heart benefits, these fatty acids are known to have anti-inflammatory effects to help seniors living with arthritis. And reducing inflammation can help you cut down on arthritis flare-ups. Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids include freshwater fish, flaxseed, and olive oil. However, it is also important to make sure that your diet does not include omega-6 fatty acids that are found more often in red meats and vegetable oils because they tend to increase rather than reduce inflammation.
9.)Add Vitamin D and calcium. Like osteoporosis, vitamin D deficiencies are a part of arthritis, and a diet rich in vitamin D can help with bone strength. Additionally, increased levels of calcium in your daily diet for overall improved bone and joint health. This comes most often from fortified dairy products, eggs, fatty fish, and certain supplements. People benefit from 1,000 to 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 on a daily basis.
10.)Increase fresh fruits and vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts) have anti-inflammatory properties much like omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, berries are able to help with the reduction of inflammation that comes from arthritis. Most often blueberries and strawberries provide anthocyanins and vitamin C to help with the effects of arthritis.
Overall, there is a benefit to having senior care or home care for your loved one if arthritis has already been diagnosed with arthritis. They may still want to live alone 100% of the time, though some daily tasks may be of risk to their health or safety. In order to help with activities like cooking, cleaning, and other daily needs, senior care is able to help with reduced possibility of broken bones or other dangers.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Health Care in Chadds Ford, PA, please contact the friendly staff at Suma Home Care.
Call today: (484) 206-4544
Ibrahim recently completed a Professional Certificate in Management; He is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administrations (MBA) at a prestigious university in the UK.
With their passion for helping others and a strong background in customer services and clinical care, Ibrahim and his wife started assisting individuals in their homes.
Since started and operating Suma Home Care in 2010 in the basement of their home, Suma Home Care has provided professionals who work endlessly in providing clients with the highest quality of care, while enabling clients to maintain dignity, comfort and safety in their homes.
Suma Home Care, serves four counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia. Ibrahim is firmly connected to his local community and is always looking for ways to give back whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Ibrahim enjoys spending time with his wife and children, travelling and enjoys sports.
Mariama Suma-Keita BSN RN
Born in Sierra Leone west Africa, relocated to America in 1999 from a civil war and settled since in the U.S.A as a Naturalized citizen Graduated from National school of nursing with an associate , and completed BSN in Nursing from Immaculata University graduated with Honor roll Alpha Lambda sigma, After escaping the war served as a refugee nurse in Gambia and Guinea to other displaced refugees before coming to America.
In the states started in Homecare then then transition into hospital, worked in Jefferson hospital as a Registered nurse on Tele and general medsurg floor, also worked in Einstein hospital as an oncology transplant nurse , I realized that I enjoy working with patients so much and believe in quality and compassionate care one at a time dealing with an holistic approach in caring for patients and family in a familiar environment called home , I see the impact and progress when they’re home , it makes them feel relax and progress fast with recovering at home. As a nurse and entrepreneur I understand that dedication to meeting people and families needs is a priority, and able to foster relationships with family and patients that is professional and friendly to help them stay and settled home as a desire.
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