Helping Your Elderly Loved One Deal with Arthritis

Arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the small joints in the body, mainly the feet and hands causing very painful swelling and eventually leading to erosion of the bone and joint deformity. Affecting the lining of the joint many people with arthritis suffer with this disorder. You can help your elderly love one deal with arthritis by following a few simple steps.

Helping your elderly loved one to deal with arthritis can be tricky but there are certain tips and tricks you can do to help assist them.

1. Magnet therapy: this alternative therapy is believed to help reduce pain by placing various sized magnets on the body. It is believed that magnets help increase blood circulation which in return helps reduce the pain and swelling of arthritis.

2. Massage therapy: this is simply something you can help your elderly loved one with you, by lightly massaging the hands or feet you can help your loved one feel more at ease. Massaging the painful areas can also help improve blood circulation.

3. Communication: Sometimes being able to let your elderly loved one vent about their condition can help improve their attitude over this painful disorder. Being able to have someone listen is sometimes all anyone wants to have them understand what they are going through. By communicating with your elderly loved one you should be able to help them keep a positive attitude and help them to remain happy.

4. Watch for signs of depression: If your elderly loved one starts to show signs of depression you will want to seek help for them before it gets uncontrollable for them.

Signs of depression:

• Lack of sleeping or oversleeping

• Feeling of helplessness

• Over eating or under eating

• Lack of concentration

• Uncontrollable negative thoughts

• Thoughts that life is not worth while

• Irritability

5. Educating your elderly loved one: By simply giving those the tools they need to fully understand their disorder you are greatly helping them cope with this painful change of life. A lot of misunderstanding and fears come from lack of understanding.

6. Dieting changes: Helping your loved one make the proper changes to their diet to assist with weight loss can greatly reduce the pressure against the joints.

7. Helping your loved ones to learn when to ask for help. This is probably one of the hardest tasks is to have your elderly loved ones learn when to ask for assistance when they need help. Because of arthritis being painful and the swelling of the joints which can lead to deformities your loved ones may find that are unable to do the same things they did before. Teaching them it's okay to ask for help should be at the top of the list for anyone helping their loved ones.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to replace the recommendations or suggestions of your medical care provider. When ever in doubt please contact your loved ones care provider and ask them for tips and suggestions.

Sources:

Nursing Training

http://www.arthritis.org/