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My husband has osteoarthritis which is quite painful. Are there are suggestions/remedies that anyone can suggest, such as suitable exercises etc which might alleviate the pain? He is wearing a bracelet, copper I think, which is supposed to help but not sure if this really has any effect.

Hello,

Many people think that osteoarthritis is just something that is a normal part of getting older and that pain is to be expected. This is absolutely not the case and there are lots of things that your husband can do to help himself. Self-management is essential for all types of arthritis so see our website for more details.

Dr Wendy Holden
Consultant Rheumatologist and Medical Advisor to Arthritis Action

https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/

020 3781 7120

There is a lot you can try to help him to manage his symptoms. Keeping active, performing exercises and stretches can help, learning to pace your activities so that you don’t trigger a flare-up of your pain as well as setting goals and priorities are all very important and can help you to maintain a fulfilling lifestyle. Your GP might be able to refer you to a cognitive pain-management department near you that can teach you techniques that you can use to manage your symptoms yourself (find out more here: https://www.iosteopathy.org/osteopathy- ... th-ageing/ ).

The charity Arthritis Action (https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/livi ... exercises/) provides a number of free, very easy to follow exercise factsheets that you might want to try to start off with. For those who need a little more support, most GPs will have an agreement with a local health centre (the scheme is usually called ‘Exercises on referral’) that will offer you access to subsidised personal trainer sessions to build your confidence. When beginning a new exercises programme, you should always start off easy and gradually progress as your ability and confidence improves. You might find it a little difficult at first, but if you persist you will see the benefit of keeping active.

If you feel that you need support from a medical professional, manual therapy such as osteopathy has also been proven to help in many cases, especially for knee arthritis. Find out more at https://www.iosteopathy.org/osteopathy-for-health/

Hello,
Dr Wendy Holden and Matthew Rogers have set out some wonderful resources for people with arthritis. Your husband might also like to look at the Escape Pain website (https://escape-pain.org/), which also has some lovely resources, exercise videos and printable sheets.

Just to repeat what Dr Holden and Matthew have already said, bodies are made to move and in general movement is pain-relieving for our joints, so the right sort of exercise would really help your husband. Your husband might like to ask his GP for a referral to musculoskeletal physiotherapy for a full assessment and specific exercise prescription.

Other modalities for example: manual therapy and kinesiotaping could also be helpful for managing pain. A good manual therapist, e.g. musculoskeletal physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropracter would be able to help with this.

Hi,

Just a quick note to follow up on the excellent comments from Wendy, Matthew and Tracy so far.

In addition to all the comments I would add that often a local authority may have exercise referral seems in your area which your GP can refer to. Its always worth a call and also checking with a local authority directly. This does not have to be a gym but can be a community, pool or exercises within your own home.

What we do know from research is that if we can strengthen the muscle around an effected joint you are likely to feel less pain in that joint and as Tracy has said, as humans we are supposed to move more.

Often simple home based exercise can be really effective in doing this.
In addition to the other referrals that have been suggested it might also be worth looking at our activity directory.

Best wishes
David
Registered Osteopath. Therapy and Exercise lead, Arthritis Action