Arthritis can be a very debilitating, upsetting and painful issue. It is frequently viewed as a sign of getting older but it is not really a simple condition as that. First of it isn’t exclusive to the elderly and it is not a guaranteed symptom of getting older. In fact it’s often a problem due to your environment and lifestyle. If you do not look after your body and remain fit and healthy then you are making yourself more vulnerable to arthritis as you get older. Equally you can suffer with the illness after an accident or incident.
What causes arthritis?
Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints often caused by wear and tear. This is the reason it’s more common in the elderly but can be found quite in frequently in athletes and people in sedentary careers.
There are many diverse forms of the condition and several ways you may suffer from it, like through illness, disease and injury. The main symptoms are pain in the joints, often the toes and palms.
Now we now have a clearer understanding on arthritis we are well positioned to look at how successful a remedy reflexology can be with arthritis, first as a standalone option and second as a complementary treatment with other treatments like aromatherapy.
As a standalone therapy
It has been found that the participants who used this therapy had a higher pain threshold and could withstand pain for a longer time period than they could without the treatment.
This would indicate that reflexology is an effective ‘painkiller’ and therefore a useful treatment for a condition like arthritis. It’s not only with pain relief it can help, it’s also effective to improve sleep, improve circulation and reduce stress levels. These all lead to a happier, healthier well-being which would set you in good stead to deal with arthritis more effectively.
As a complementary therapy
We know that reflexology may be an effective solution for sufferers of this condition but is it even better in combination with other treatments like aromatherapy?
Without getting into a great deal of detail we’d have to argue that it would make sense to use more than 1 therapy to treat arthritis. Using aromatherapy as an ideal example the 2 therapies would combine very nicely indeed.
Many essential oils used in aromatherapy have an anti-inflammatory features which would obviously be welcome to a sufferer of the condition. Use of essential oils during a treatment would also help create a relaxing environment which would place the patient in a calm frame of mind and reduce blood pressure and their heart rate.
In conclusion, reflexology can be an extremely helpful and effective form of treatment to assist with arthritis.
