Neck Stretches for Relieving Arthritis

Physical activity plays a vital role in managing arthritis. Research shows that exercise is an essential tool in managing arthritis. Regular, moderate exercise reduces joint pain and stiffness, builds strong muscle around the joints, increases flexibility and endurance and wards off other health problems.

Three Neck Stretches

• Tilt your head sideways, with your ear going to your shoulder. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat on the other side. Do three to five repetitions.
  
• Turn head to one side and look back over your shoulder. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat on the other side. Do three to five repetitions.
  
• Tuck chin in and pull head straight back. Hold for 5 seconds and then tilt your face to the ceiling and hold for another 5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
  

Anyone for Pigs in the Blanket?

Natural remedies for relieving arthritis pain is nothing new. People have been using a variety of concoctions since the dawning of mankind. With all the medications and other treatments you will find available, sometimes, it is nice to see an old-timer in terms of treatments still works as good today as it did in years past.

Take a look at this fashionable favorite!

Cabbage leaves have been used to soothe inflammation for hundreds of years. If you want to try this arthritis “Pig in a Blanket,” blanch a cabbage leaf and apply warm or cold to the area of inflammation. You can keep the cabbage in place by wrapping it in gauze or an elastic bandage.

What you get is a pain-free life with the only downside being that you may smell like cabbage for a while….

Aspirin the Most Trusted Painkiller?

After learning about the adverse side effects linked to prescription painkillers Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra, arthritis patients are turning back to over-the-counter drugs in hopes of finding a safer option.

Many are again opting for aspirin. Aspirin is regarded as one of the oldest, most trusted painkillers of all. In fact, it has been around for so long -- more than 100 years -- that it never went through the stringent tests today's drugs must go through in order to become non-prescription. With more than 100 billion tablets of aspirin consumed worldwide each year, aspirin is commonly used to treat inflammation and pain.

However, reliance on this over-the-counter drug may result in serious health problems, including gastrointestinal bleeding and stomach irritation. While aspirin may be fine for the occasional ache or pain, doctors do not recommend it for chronic pain sufferers because aspirin is not void of health risks.

One pharmacist (and senior editor for Harvard Health Publications) offered a word of caution pertaining to the safety of aspirin and other over-the-counter pain relievers: "My guess is that if aspirin was launched in 2004, it would not be an over-the-counter drug. People have the misunderstanding that if you can simply buy without a prescription, that it is completely safe to use. But every drug has side effects."

Although aspirin offers pain relief with less side effects than the Cox-2 inhibitors, there are other arthritis pain relief products, like Arthritin, that work completely side effect free.