Hello there , hoping for some good tips on keeping moving

S10lemon

Hi,

I've just found this forum while researching O A ,and what I can do to help myself stay functional for as long as possible.

I've had joint pain for a few years now, and put it down to hammering my body with sports and other adventures when I was younger.

I've been to see a few healthcare people and they confirmed O A, so I'm doing want I can to maintain my range of moment for as long as I can, I'm 49 at the moment so hopefully I can keep going for a while.

I'dd be particularly interested in how I can keep my hands mobile as I play guitar (badly) and have just about decided to pack it in but wondered if other with OA have manged to keep playing.

All the best Steve

[Deleted User]

Hi Steve,
welcome to the forum and I'm sure you will get some helpful tips from our forum members. On a personal note I don't play guitar but I do knitting and crochet work. My hands are quite badly affected, and I find it useful to put my hands into warm water to get them moving in the mornings. I also used to use a warm wax path which I bought from Boots. Sadly got lost when we moved house and I haven't replaced it yet.

We do have a booklet on exercise which includes a section on hands wrists and forearms. You can download a copy of the booklet here https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/do-i-have-arthritis/publications/1313-exercise-and-arthritis
you are certainly doing the right thing by keeping moving as good muscle tone and range of movement all help to keep the joints stable.

Please keep us up-to-date with how you get on as we are always keen to hear from people.
Best Wishes
Sharon

Speculatrix

I tried a warm wax bath once - it was very effective for the pain in my hands, albeit temporarily. I've been toying with the idea of buying one. I would also confirm that I find putting my hands in warm water (basically as hot as I can bear and without scalding myself) helps if I want to reduce the pain for a short while for a specific activity.

stickywicket

Hi Steve. I'm sorry to learn you have OA. Was it caused by the sport? Who knows? I know lots of people who still do a lot of sport who are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s with no arthritis but certainly it can come on the site of a former trauma.

Well done on deciding to do all you can to postpone the worst of the effects. Self-management is key with OA.

Fingers? I'm not sure. I started with RA (admittedly a different beast) when I was 15 and did a lot of piano playing. I carried on for a while but got thoroughly disillusioned when I was playing the wrong notes simply because my fingers wouldn't stretch to the right ones. Certainly exercising any arthritic joint is good. The trouble is, when we are doing something we love, we tend to get carried away and, instead of making things better, actually put more of a strain on then. So I guess I'm saying keep on playing the guitar but don't be as stupid as I was :oops:

There are some arguments for cod liver oil helping OA. ARUK is a trustworthy site and this is an interesting article, especially the last paragraph http://tinyurl.com/hm8fvl5 . Good luck with it all and please let us know if we can help.