Hip Arthritis Remedies

Arthritis is an inflammatory disease that affects the body joints. There are many different forms of arthritis. The hip joint is mostly affected by osteoarthritis which is caused due to wearing out of the soft cartilage tissues present in the joint. As a result, one experiences excruciating pain in the hip. This pain get aggravated with hip movements. When the symptoms turn severe, then the joint becomes so stiff that it restricts joint mobility. The worst part of hip arthritis is that it makes standing and walking a painful affair. People who are above the age of 50 mostly get hip arthritis. Those who are overweight are at a higher risk of developing this problem as the extra body weight puts additional pressure on the hip joint. Traumatic injury to the hip joint, overuse of hip joint and genetics are the other major factors responsible for hip arthritis.

Treatment

When you visit doctor with hip arthritis symptoms, then they first conduct physical examination and X-rays to evaluate the severity of the condition and start the treatment accordingly. The first thing that need to be done is to give adequate amount of rest to the hip joint. If the pain is severe, then they may advise you to keep yourself off the feet for few days. Otherwise, you are advised to take a break of 10 minutes while doing some activity or modify certain movement to minimize the pressure on the hip.

While resting, application of heat or cold on the painful site is quite helpful for reducing the pain and inflammation. Put some ice cubes in a packet and place it over the hip joint for 15 minutes and not more than that. You can repeat this several times throughout the day. Similarly, heat therapy can be performed with the help of a heating pad. If movements get affected due to the pain, then use of a single crutch on the opposite side of the arthritic hip can ease off the pain to some extent. Back brace can also be used in order to reduce the stress on the hip joint.

As far as medicines for hip arthritis treatment is concerned, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (or NSAIDs) are prescribed for treating the pain and inflammation. It is often accompanied by nutritional supplements like Glucosamine which is highly effective for arthritis. As the pain subsides, doctors often recommend physical therapy which involve exercises that strengthen muscles in the area and improves the joint mobility.

In those cases, where the hip joint is badly damaged by arthritis, then it has to be corrected with the help of hip replacement surgery where the damaged cartilage tissues are removed by surgical means. The surgery is followed by rehabilitation program where the normal mobility of the hip joint is restored with the help of physical therapy.

Home Remedies

There are some helpful remedies which can control the symptoms of hip arthritis. A few of them are given below:

Follow Arthritis Diet: Diet plays a major role in curing hip arthritis. As obesity is one of the reasons of hip arthritis, you must eliminate all such foods that tend to contribute towards weight gain. You have to stay away from fatty foods, junk foods, etc. Foods that contain high amount of protein, vitamins and minerals are good for this condition. Include fresh green vegetable, fiber rich fruits, sprouts, raw vegetable juices in your arthritis diet. Use ginger, garlic, turmeric and cayenne pepper for food preparation as these spices have excellent anti-inflammatory properties. Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids which brings down inflammation.

Garlic: Garlic has excellent anti-inflammatory properties and can be used both internally as well as externally for treating hip arthritis. You can either eat 2-3 cloves of garlic daily to reduce pain or you can make a paste of garlic and apply it on the painful area of the hip.

Honey and Lemon Juice: Add one teaspoon of honey and two teaspoon of lemon juice into a glass of warm water and have this mixture daily in the morning. This provides a lot of relief from arthritic pain.

Sandalwood Paste and Vinegar: Heat the vinegar to make it lukewarm and add some sandalwood powder to it to obtain a thick paste. Rub this paste on the hip region for a soothing relief.

Epsom Salt Bath: Add one cup of Epsom salt into warm bath water and soak your body into it for some time. This will increase the blood flow to the affected joint which in turn relieves the joint pain.

If weight is the cause of hip arthritis, then you have to lose weight as soon as possible so that your hip do not have to carry that extra body weight all the time. You can prevent flare ups of hip arthritis with the help of regular hip exercises after consulting your doctor. Such exercises improves strength and flexibility of the muscles in the area and thus any further damage to the joint is prevented.