Osteoarthritis is a disease that results from wear and tear on the joints. This can cause swelling around the joints that makes your body look different. For example, your fingers may look extra bony. Osteoarthritis usually occurs in old age, but it can also result from obesity and trauma to the joints, such as sports injuries. Inflammation also plays a big role in the disease symptoms of osteoarthritis.
In this article, I discuss what arthritis is and how hypnosis can support treatment for osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis symptoms
Osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis, to know for sure if you have osteoarthritis a doctor will always take an X-ray. To check for yourself if you may have osteoarthritis, you can check yourself for the following symptoms.
- A deep throbbing pain.
- Difficulty with daily activities, such as getting dressed, brushing hair or climbing stairs. Dependent joints suffering from osteoarthritis.
- Stiffness in the morning.
- Pain while walking.
- Stiffness after rest.
With the joint itself, you may notice that when you touch it it feels warm. The joint may be swollen and difficult to move. You may also be unable to make the full movement, such as fully extending your finger or legs.
Osteoarthritis Treatment
Osteoarthritis treatment usually consists of exercise, possible weight loss, heat and cold compresses at the joints affected by osteoarthritis.
Sometimes excess fluid at joints is also removed or injections are given to help the joint run smoothly again. You are then given medical grade WD-40, so to speak, so that your joint moves a little more smoothly again.
You can also get crutches and other tools to reduce pressure on joints such as the knees.
The type of treatment also often depends on your age and daily activities.
Osteoarthritis and nutrition
Osteoarthritis is also often caused or exacerbated by inflammation. This is because inflammation affects cartilage and the substance that allows your joints to move smoothly. Nutrition has a big impact on inflammation in your body. For example, if you eat a lot of added sugars, this increases your inflammation levels.
A healthy diet is therefore important to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Hypnosis can help you maintain a healthy diet. For example, if you find it difficult to eat vegetables, hypnosis can help you give new values to vegetables, making it easier to go for that carrot instead of that pizza.
In doing so, healthy eating can also support the goal of losing weight to reduce symptoms. For example, hypnosis can help give unhealthy foods a worse name, making it easier to say no to an extra piece of cake or even reject it altogether.
In addition, hypnosis can help you truly enjoy healthy eating. Fruit, for example, is the candy that nature gave us.
Osteoarthritis and hypnosis
Osteoarthritis is a painful disease. Research shows that hypnotherapy benefits 75% of people with osteoarthritis and similar diseases using hypnosis to reduce pain. Pain is significantly reduced by hypnosis.
Hypnosis is not going to convince you that you are not in pain when you are. In fact, the function of pain is also to keep you from straining those joints again and thereby experiencing even more pain.
Hypnosis helps you cope better with pain, reducing its impact on you. Hypnosis helps you relax and focus attention on something other than pain.
A hypnosis session usually lasts 10 to 20 minutes. A hypnosis session begins with relaxation exercises because that is necessary to "get into hypnosis." One way to divert attention from the pain is to mentally go to a special place and describe it in great detail. This place banishes bad emotions and instead stimulates positive emotions, such as a day at the beach or a beautiful setting in the woods.
Not only what you see, but also what you feel is included in your description, such as the warmth of the sun on your face or that breeze of fresh forest air you can breathe in that cools your face again.
This mentally relaxed state full of positive energy also makes you more open to indirect suggestions from the hypnotherapist on how to deal with pain from osteoarthritis in the future.
One suggestion might be:
"You will still feel the pain of osteoarthritis, but the pain will affect you less. You will be less stressed or anxious about the pain."
In some cases, 1 hypnosis session already helps you cope better with the pain and therefore suffer less, but sometimes 10 hypnosis sessions are needed to experience significantly less pain. Usually you really notice something after hypnotherapy from session four onwards and use subsequent therapies to enhance the effect.
In the process, you can also receive self-hypnosis exercises to reinforce the effects of treatment at home.
Tips for living with osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is something you take home with you, unfortunately. Therefore, everyday things can sometimes suddenly become very difficult. To make life with osteoarthritis as fun as possible, I have listed some tips for you.
Keep moving
You probably notice it when you get up if you've been sleeping or sitting for a long time. You have become somewhat stiff.Keep moving is important to combat joint stiffness. Now you should not immediately start doing step aerobics. It is important that your joints are not overloaded. Therefore, swimming, walking (on flat surfaces) and cycling (not cycling) are the best ways to keep moving while taking good care of your joints.
If you find it difficult to keep exercising because you think it's just not good for you or too painful, a hypnotherapist can help you with techniques that will allow you to enjoy laps in the pool.
Put a sponge on the things you can't hold on to
Do you have osteoarthritis in your hands, making it difficult to grasp your cutlery, toothbrush and other smaller objects? Then you can go to the paint store or hardware store for small rolls of sponge. Put these around the handle of your cutlery and toothbrush so you can grip those items faster.
Buy good shoes
Shoes may have been especially beautiful before, but especially if you have osteoarthritis in your knees, good posture is important to minimize the strain on your joints. With osteoarthritis, the base of your big toe may be swollen. Because of this, you may need wider shoes. Also, avoid heels, which only put extra strain on that part of the foot.
When buying shoes, always try on more than 1 pair and walk a few laps around the store to see which shoe is most comfortable.
Get your groceries delivered
The downside of a supermarket is that you can be tempted by all the delicious (and unhealthy) foods available in the supermarket. In fact, by eating unhealthy foods, you actually increase inflammation levels. Fortunately, many supermarkets now allow you to have your food delivered to your home. All you need is an Internet connection and a computer. Go to the website of the supermarket where you normally do your shopping to see if you can do your shopping online and if they will deliver it to your home, that way you will never be tempted!
Turn your bathroom into a spa
A hot shower or bath can provide relaxation and make stiffness and pain disappear. Therefore, make the bathroom as pleasant as possible so you can really enjoy your shower/bath time. Soap on a string and a thick soap sponge can relieve tension on your fingers.
A thick Egyptian cotton towel soaks up moisture so you don't even have to wipe. Keep an eye on offers then you can get one fairly cheaply. Moreover, even drying off then becomes a real pampering moment.
Listen to Music
Music can have a calming effect that reduces pain. In fact, music distracts from the pain. In doing so, calm music can also support self-hypnosis.
Use self-hypnosis before bedtime
Osteoarthritis can make it difficult to fall asleep. Certain self-hypnosis exercises make it easier to fall asleep. The relaxation exercises of hypnosis can help you fall asleep better.
In short
Osteoarthritis is a painful disease that affects your joints. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cure this disease so treatment consists mainly of preventing it from getting worse. Nutrition and exercise play an important role in this, but that is not always the solution to osteoarthritis pain.
Hypnotherapy can give you tools to better cope with pain and be less affected by osteoarthritis during daily activities. In addition to hypnotherapy with a therapist, there are also self-hypnosis techniques that you can apply on a daily basis to have less pain and to fall asleep better.
Want to learn more about hypnosis? Then check out the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' events and trainings.
Sources:
http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/tips/hypnosis-for-pain.php
