Natural Ways to Treat Arthritis in Elderly People

Arthritis is a simple inflammation of joints originating from Greek words “Arthon for joint” and “Itis for inflammation” followed by its various forms like TMJ arthritis, osteoarthritis, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, etc. Its symptoms include joint pain, stiffness, and discomfort changing positions. For some people, arthritis becomes a really disabling problem where they become dependent on someone else to perform their activities of daily living. Most chronic arthritis patients complain that their problems are not manageable with anti-arthritic drugs including allopathic anti-inflammatories, NSAIDs, pain killers, etc. In some cases, physical therapy intervention also becomes unsuccessful. For these elderly people who want to get rid of arthritis pain and discomfort, the best route to go is natural medicine. It is interesting to note that there are different naturopathy means to avoid this problem getting into the human body system, so below are a few natural ways to treat arthritis in elderly people:

Epsom Salt Bath Soaks for Arthritis

Soak your body in a tub of warm water with a handful of Epsom salt.

Use of Epsom salt is recommended to heal sore or strained muscles, painful joints, bruises, and has a mild laxative property.

Also, Epsom salt - magnesium sulfate – is a natural way to treat skin problems, relax the nervous system, and draw toxins from the body to help ease arthritis problems.

Epsom salt bath is highly recommended for elderly people.

Emu Oil Massage for Arthritis

Old people can start undergoing Emu oil massage which is a proven treatment for arthritis problem, as this oil has good medicinal properties that help in relieving pain, stiffness, and inflammation of joints.

Emu oil is also good for skin allergy patients.

This oil comes from the fat pad or in simple words hump of the bird “Emu” found mostly in India and Australia.

In India, a few states engaged in Emu bird farming are Tamil Nadu, Bangalore, Orissa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Chennai from where Emu oil is extracted.

Some people have also found benefits with Emu oil for treatment of acne, wrinkles, and hair loss.

Mustard Oil Massage for Arthritis Pain Relief

Arthritis patients can also go for mustard oil massage if the person doesn’t have skin allergy as certain people might have skin allergy problems with mustard oil.

The best way to use mustard oil for massage is to heat a few oz of oil that needs to be massaged over the knee or throughout the body and apply it over the affected areas and rub in a way that the oil gets absorbed completely into our body.

When this oil will get absorbed in your skin, it will start relaxing nerves, ligaments, and external joints and muscles helping you get rid of arthritis discomfort.

Besides treatment of arthritis, there are several massage benefits of mustard oil which have been covered in previous articles.

Flaxseed Flour for Arthritis

Regular intake of Flaxseed oil/flaxseed powder is good for inhibiting inflammations.

You can prepare paratha or chapati (Indian breads) by adding some flour of flaxseed into it.

Flaxseed is also ideal for preparing English bread in your home.

You can mix flaxseed along with multigrain flour or whole wheat flour and it is good in minerals and fibers for internal use.

Glucosamine for Arthritis

Regular intake of glucosamine is essential for a healthy joint.

Moreover, it is better go for an ideal mixture of glucosamine and chondroitin and MSM for internal use.

Infrared Sauna for Arthritis

It is very essential for every human body to sweat out heavily to excrete all the toxins in the body so it is highly recommended to go for steam or far infrared sauna.

Infrared Sauna is widely used in Kerala Ayurveda Medicine and millions of people around the world have got benefits from this therapy.

This happens as sauna clears away the toxins which boosts metabolism of our body helping our body to treat the existing diseases on its own at a much faster pace.

This is the reason why infrared sauna is recommended as supplemental therapy with many types of treatment modalities and is widely used in alternative medicine.

Golden Shower Fruit for Arthritis

Sara kondrai tree (cassia fistula) is another good choice for treatment of arthritis. Sara kondrai is a famous tree around Tamil Nadu, India known for its yellow flowers.

During the falls, the tree looks more beautiful as it turns all its leaves to golden yellow in color. It is also known as Indian laburnum, amlatash, garmalo, and karmalo in India.

It has a long fruit which has a puli (just like Tamarind).

Arthritis patients can use the cassia fistula externally by heating the pulp of that fruit and apply it over the affected joint.

It has a distinctive smell of Iodex arthritis pain relieving gel which is used all over India.

So above were a few ways to naturally treat arthritis in older people. Most of these natural methods are backed by intensive research done by Ayurveda Medicine in India but still following the advice of a good Ayurvedic physician in your area will be a plus point, as different people respond to different types of treatments and your doctor can suggest you the best treatment for your problem.