Living with arthritis can be extremely challenging. It can take a toll on both the mental and physical health of individuals who must manage the debilitating symptoms that can accompany the disease on a near-daily basis.
Fortunately, with proper medical care (and some minor lifestyle changes in some cases), it’s possible to not only manage the symptoms of arthritis, but to thrive and fully enjoy life once again.
You often hear the question “Are compression sleeves good for arthritis?”. Let’s find out.
The (Many) Unpleasant Symptoms of Arthritis
A lot of people are quite surprised to learn just how many different types of arthritis there actually are. The two most common types of arthritis that affect your joints are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
- OA can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms that affect your joints, including (but certainly not limited to):
- Pain felt either during or after movement
- Joint stiffness (most often noticed upon first waking in the morning or after periods of inactivity)
- Swelling, redness and tenderness
- Poor range of motion
- Grating sensation within the joint (may or may not be accompanied by popping and/or cracking sounds)
- Development of bone spurs
All of these symptoms can cause long-term damage to both knee joints and tendons, and may even result in permanent knee deformities.
On the other hand, RA can cause many similar symptoms, like:
- Warm and tender joints (with or without swelling)
- Joint stiffness (worse either in morning or after being inactive)
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
In addition, RA is also known to cause a wide variety of symptoms that are totally unrelated to the joints.
As a matter of fact, up to 40% of patients living with RA will experience symptoms that affect everything from their eyes to their blood vessels to even their bone marrow.
So Do Compression Wraps Help?
Knee braces are commonly worn by individuals suffering from both types of arthritis discussed above because they can help with stability and restoring a more natural range of motion.
However, not everyone out there wants to wear a knee brace — indeed, some folks just aren’t a fan of the more rigid design of many types of knee braces.
The good news is that compression wraps can work as a fantastic alternative. While they aren’t exactly a miracle cure, they are a simple, convenient, and comfortable way for individuals who suffer from arthritis to manage their pain.
Many people prefer compression wraps to knee braces because they are much simpler to put on and take off. They’re also easier to wear underneath clothing, which can help with staying comfortable — especially in those colder winter months of the year when wearing shorts isn’t an option.
In a nutshell, compression wraps work by helping your blood to circulate more efficiently. When your blood is able to circulate like this, it can help with everything from preventing soreness to relieving existing pain. However, you also need to keep in mind that you don’t want the wrap to be too tight.
A good rule of thumb to go by is simply how comfortable you feel while wearing a compression wrap — if it’s too tight to feel comfortable, it’s probably not right for you.
With that in mind, if you’ve made the decision that a compression wrap could be right for you, then you should find the following tips to be quite handy:
- Make sure that your compression wrap is tight enough to apply a decent amount of pressure to your affected area
- You definitely don’t want the wrap to be so tight that it leaves indentations on the edges of the sleeves
- Ensure that you’re able to comfortably move your limb around after putting the wrap on
- Once you have a compression wrap that fits right, it’s important to remember to keep it on all day long
- Compression therapy works best when you’re moving around and being active
- With that in mind, you’ll want to take off your compression wrap when going to sleep at night (unless your doctor has advised you otherwise)
Conclusion
To sum it all up, the most important thing to look for when wearing a compression wrap to manage your arthritis pain is to find a wrap that provides you with a comfortable fit.
A compression wrap that is too tight will be counterproductive as it can actually restrict your blood flow instead.
However, with a proper fit, a compression wrap is a great alternative to harder style knee braces for arthritis patients. They can work wonders for helping you to live your day-to-day life in comfort without having to worry about any unpleasant symptoms.