You may not realize just how important your wrists are until one
of them gets hurt. There are basically two types of wrist injury. One is
acute, such as a sprain or a fracture. The other is overuse, caused by
the repetitive motion of activities such as typing. The overuse injury
that most often affects the wrists is tendinitis. People who use their
hands a lot such as carpenters, computer operators, musicians can
develop tendinitis if the tendons in their wrists are not strong and
flexible enough. Overuse can also affect the ulnar nerve, which runs
along pinkie side of the wrist and hand. And it can cause tissues in the
wrist to swell and put pressure on the median nerve, leading to carpel
tunnel syndrome. Both conditions can produce tingling, numbness, and
pain in the fingers and hands as well as in the wrists. Here are some
tips that you can consider to adopt to relieve wrist pain.
1. Build Some Muscles
You
can prevent future wrist pain by strengthening the muscles in your
forearms. It is recommended holding a 6-ounce can of tomato paste in
each hand and flexing your wrists back and forth 15 to 20 times. Or you
can simply squeeze a tennis ball in each hand. Squeeze the ball for 5
seconds and release, then repeat 12 to 15 times.
2. Ease Back Into It
A
wrist that has been immobilized may become stiff from lack of use. Some
gentle stretching can help restore flexibility. It is recommended
pressing on a tabletop with the palm of your hand. Bend your wrist until
you reach the angle of pain, then back off just a hair. By riding the
edge of discomfort and stopping just before you feel pain, you are doing
beneficial stretching. Hold this position or as long as you find
comfortable, working up to 2 minutes. Repeat three to four times daily.
3. Treat It Gingerly
A
compress made from ginger can draw out toxins and accelerate the
healing process. To make the compress, simply boil some grated
gingerroot, allow it to cool, place it in a moist washcloth, and lay the
washcloth over your wrist. The washcloth should be as hot as you can
tolerate. Leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes, and repeat every other hour.
4. Keep Still
For
a more severe case of tendinitis, immobilizing the joint with an
elastic wrist support may provide some relief. You will find these
devices in drugstores and medical supply stores. It is recommended
wearing one while you sleep, to prevent your wrist from twisting
awkwardly as well as during your waking hours, when your wrist is in
use. The support should keep your wrist in about 10-degree dorsiflex
position. In other words, if your palm is facing downward, your wrist
should be bent slightly upward.
5. Put It On The Rocks
Ice
is a vasoconstrictor. That means it decreases the blood supply in your
wrist, which helps reduce any swelling. It is recommended putting ice
cubes in a plastic bag, wrapping the bag in a towel, and applying the
pack to your wrist for about 20 minutes. Repeat the treatment four to
six times a day.
6. Raise Your Hand
Elevation is not
as crucial for an injured wrist as for an injured ankle or knee. Still,
it can help keep any swelling down. Just be sure to prop your wrist so
that it is above heart level.
7. Turn On The Heat
Once
any swelling subsides, or if your wrist simply feels stiff and achy,
heat can help. It is recommended to follow these instructions. Rub
vinegar on your wrist, cover it with plastic, then apply a heating pad
wrapped in a towel for about 20 minutes. You can repeat this treatment
every hour as needed.
Showing posts with label swelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swelling. Show all posts
Monday, August 18, 2014
How to Cure or Alleviate Edema, Including Lymphedema
7:14:00 AM
By edema excessive fluid gather in body parts or greater areas of the body, making the areas swollen. Edema is most often a problem in the legs, but can occur anywhere in the body.
There are several types of edema, and many cases are also a mixture of more than one type. By lymphedema the drainage from the tissues through the lymph vessels are impaired or excessive fluid goes through the blood capillary walls into the spaces between the cells in a tissue. Edema can also occur because of poor drainage of blood through the veins towards the heart. Edema can further be caused by general accumulation of excessive fluid in the body.
The causes of edema are many. Edema is a symptom by most inflammations. Insufficient heart action by congestive heart failure can cause edema. A too high intake of salt can cause general water retention in the body. Sitting and standing long in the same position can cause edema in the lower limbs. A still sitting life without exercise can cause or aggravate edema.
Insufficiencies of the liver or kidneys can cause fluid retention and thereby edema. Edema can be a side effect of antihypertensive drugs, steroids surgery and radiation therapy. Further causes of different types of edema are varicose veins, cancer, hypothyroidism, blood clots, constipation and physical injuries.
To treat edema, it is important to treat the underlying disease or injury. However, medical treatment does not always cure the underlying condition or the cause is wholly or partially lifestyle aspects. Therefore various measures targeted directly against the edema are useful. These are presented here:
Pharmacological treatments: The physician will sometimes prescribe diuretics to reduce fluid retention in the body and thereby reduce edema. This treatment should however be used for serious edema or edema persistent when other measures do not work.
Salt intake restriction: Restriction of salt intake is an important measure by edema. People suffering from edema should avoid adding great amount of salt into their food or consume preprocessed food with a salty taste.
Diet: A good general diet that alleviates chronic inflammation is useful. The diet should especially contain enough sources of omega-3-fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids, like: Fat fish, seafood, flax oil, olive oil, almonds, rape oil and canola oil. Also vegetables and fruit in a natural shape are useful.
Avoiding constipation: Constipation should be treated, since a stomach engorged by excessive content can cause impairment of fluid circulation.
Variation of corporeal position: You should avoid sitting or standing still a long time during the day. When sitting during work or rest, you should change position with regular intervals.
Exercise: Every day you should have some exercise adjusted to your health condition. This could be walking, cycling, swimming, running or any other sport activity where you use greater parts of your body. Doing regular stretching exercises or yoga is useful. By severe edema special therapeutic exercises should be prescribed by a professional.
High position of limb: When you are sleeping or resting the swollen body parts can be placed in an elevated position by means of pillows, pads or by resting in an adjustable bed or chair.
Massage: By minor edema yourself, your spouse or a friend can massage the affected body part to alleviate the edema. The massage should be done in the direction of natural flow of blood and lymph that is towards the heart. You should however avoid massaging distinctly injured or distinctly inflamed body parts. By severe edema a professional massager should be engaged to perform the massage type called "manual lymphatic drainage".
Elastic bandaging: You can use elastic gloves, stockings, tapes or bandages around the swollen body parts during the day or during physical activities after instruction from a professional person.
Inflatable garments: There are inflatable garments to be found that can be used around the engorged body parts some times of the day. Also these should be used after professional instruction.
Sequential gradient pump therapy: One can get special electric pumps connected to inflatable garments. The pump inflates and deflates the garments repeatedly. Each garment has several rooms that are inflated sequentially in the direction of the natural fluid stream towards the heart. In this way the fluid is dynamically pumped the right way out of the engorged body part. This type of therapy is used in professional settings or at home after instruction from a professional.
Skin care: The skin on a body part affected by severe edema should attain special care to avoid and treat sores. Proper cleaning, daily use of moisturing creams, proper rinsing of skin injuries, antiseptic creams by injuries.
Complete decongestive therapy: This is a complete set of edema treatment techniques done by a professional person combined with self-care instructed by the professional. The techniques used are: Manual lymphatic drainage, compression bandaging, therapeutic exercise and skin care.
Herbal and natural products: Many herbs and products composed of a blending of these herbs are used against edema. Such herbs are: Dandelion, Gingko biloba, horse chestnut, buchu, goldenrod, corn silk, horsetail, juniper, butchers broom, cleaver and ginger. Some people have experienced a good effect from using apple cider vinegar.
The flavonide rich product pycnognenol extracted from the bark of the French maritime pine has shown promising effects against edema according to scientific studies. The flavonides hydroxyethylrutosides also seem to have good effect against edema. Other natural substances that may help to treat edema are the flavonids diosmin and hesperidin and vitamin C.
Oil pulling: The procedure called "oil pulling" may help for edema. It consists of rinsing the mouth with one tablespoon of natural oil for 15-20 minutes and then spitting the oil out. It is done in the morning before eating. Sesame or sunflower oils are usually recommended for this use.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
