You're in the middle of a routine household task when a pain shoots through your hand that's sharp enough to stop you in your tracks and bring tears to your eyes. It's your darned arthritis, again!
These days, I can't open a package of salad greens without cutting it open with my kitchen scissors. It's not so much that products seem to be hermetically sealed, but that I've progressively lost strength in my hands to perform simple tasks. However, a woman's work is never done, as the saying goes, and that certainly holds true in my house.
If arthritis makes your household chores more challenging than usual, here are a few tips to help manage the pain:
- Plan ahead - organize your tasks to conserve energy and minimize the pain
- Prioritize - focus on what's most important for now
- Break it up - cut your tasks into smaller, manageable parts doable in 15 minutes
- Pace yourself - take a rest break, some things can wait
- Be efficient - keep supplies in zones to avoid dragging them from one location to another
See more on Arthritis Pain: Tips for managing housework, MSN Health
See also:
Rheumatoid Arthritis, EmpowHer Encyclopedia
How do you manage your arthritis pain?
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Add a Comment3 Comments
This is a great list of tips. I plan to share it with a friend of mine who has arthritis. Thanks!
August 9, 2009 - 10:34pmThis Comment
This is great information. My Mother happens to have a really hard time with housework because of her arthritis pains and she also has frozen shoulder. I am going to share this information with her. Her biggest issue is that she doesn't want to feel helpless because I was going to pay for a cleaning service for her and she said NO WAY!
Thanks for the share.
August 9, 2009 - 8:17amThis Comment
Frozen shoulder? What caused that?
It really is hard to concede to needing help with housework; but, better that than to make things worse for yourself. Besides, your mother deserves a break. Perhaps you'll be able to find a way to convince her that having someone else do the housework will free her up to do other things she would enjoy.
August 10, 2009 - 7:38pmThis Comment