If you suffer from arthritis, you know just how bad the pain can be.
Whether you have it in your fingers, hands, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, or feet, the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis can range from mild to severe, sometimes to the point where you can barely move at all.
Some people swear that massaging can help relieve the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis, but is this true? Should you massage arthritic joints? Will it make things better or worse?
The simple answer is that various massage techniques can help relieve pain and inflammation in arthritic joints. How does this work? Let’s take a closer look.
Massaging Arthritic Joints
There is no doubt that massaging can help relieve inflammation and pain caused by arthritis, plus it can help increase mobility and flexibility, but how exactly does it work? Let’s find out.
Improving Blood Flow
One of the main ways in which massages can help with arthritis joints is by improving the blood blow or circulation.
When you get a massage, all of that movement helps to increase blood circulation. With increased blood circulation comes decreased inflammation.
All of that blood contains oxygen and nutrients for your bones and joints, and it plays a big role in decreasing inflammation.
Of course, with decreased inflammation comes decreased pain, which at the end of the day also leads to better mobility and flexibility.
Increasing Muscle Relaxation
Arthritis often causes a lot of muscle tension. For instance, when your knees are sore and stiff, you might use your leg muscles differently to compensate for the pain, which can then in turn result in more arthritis symptoms.
However, a good massage can relieve muscle tension and pain in the muscles which is caused by arthritis. With less pain in the muscles and more flexibility, it becomes much easier to move.
Reducing Stress
Although this may not physically or directly reduce pain per se, it is shown that a massage can help to reduce stress levels.
Cortisol is a substance produced by the brain, and it’s produced due to stress, and it in turn causes more stress.
Stress is shown to often come with physical manifestations. A good massage has been shown to reduce the levels of cortisol being produced by the brain, which therefore helps reduce stress levels, and in turn, this can reduce pain, or at least the perception of it.
Stress can be a killer when it comes to your physical health.
Getting a Better Sleep
The other reason why a massage can help to decrease arthritis pain is because a massage can help you get better sleep.
The combination of reduced muscle pain, joint pain, and reduced stress will help you sleep better. Our bodies need sleep to heal and to regenerate. It is also thought that a night of good sleep can help reduce the perception of pain.
Some Examples
Right now, we want to take a look at a few examples of studies conducted in the past which prove that massages can indeed help relieve pain and inflammation in arthritic joints.
Arthritis in the Hands
In a study conducted a few years back in Miami, Florida, patients suffering from arthritis in the hands were given 15-minute hand massages 4 times a week. These patients were the also told to perform hand self-massages at home on a daily basis. The results here were very positive.
The results showed that around 57% of those engaged in this trial saw reduced hand pain within the first few weeks, with an even higher percentage seeing increased grip strength. Therefore, yes, massaging arthritic hands can and does help relieve pain and inflammation.
Osteoarthritis in the Knees
There was another study conducted more recently in 2018, which was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
In this study, a total of 200 patients with osteoarthritis in the knee were divided into 3 treatment groups, with the patients in one of those groups getting weekly 1-hour massages for the knee.
The results were quite overwhelming, as the group which received weekly knee and leg massages showed a vast improvement in terms of pain, stiffness, and mobility, especially when compared to the other test groups.
Conclusion
It has been proven that massages can help with arthritic joints, and this is true in more ways than just one.