If you have arthritis, carrying out tasks around the home can be a challenge. However, making some practical changes to your home and changing the way you work should make things easier.
Practical tips that could help include:
- Keeping things in easy reach
- Using a hand rail to help you get up and down the stairs
- Using long-handled tools to pick things up or to clean
- Fitting levers to taps to make them easier to turn
- Using electric kitchen equipment, such as tin openers, when preparing food
If you have arthritis, there are a number of things you can do to manage your symptoms and improve your quality of life.
For example, you can:
- Control your weight to ease pressure on your joints
- Avoid stress or injury to your joints to prevent or reduce the severity of osteoarthritis
- Ensure good posture to strengthen healthy joint structure
- Use physiotherapy and a walking stick or cane to help prevent your condition getting worse
- Ensure that you regularly undertake weight-bearing exercise, such as walking, to help prevent osteoarthritis. This type of exercise will increase the strength of the muscles that support your joints.
- Calcium-rich foods (including dairy products, nuts, seeds and fish) and foods rich in omega-3 all contribute to a healthy, balanced diet which will help manage your arthritis. They will also reduce your risk of developing health complications such as heart disease, osteoporosis (weak and brittle bones) and obesity.