Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Does Massage Help Gout Pain

Treating Gout Pain With Compounded Pain Creams

Acute Gout Treatment – How You Can Relieve the Sudden Onset of Pain (5 of 6)

Gout is a complicated medical condition that usually affects the feet. It begins with too little uric acid being eliminated out of the body. Excess uric acid in the body builds up and forms crystals in the joints, causing swelling and pain. The pain that typically accompanies sudden gout attacks is intense and can feel as though the foot or joint is on fire. The small joint at the base of the big toe is the most common site for a gout attack. Other joints that can be affected include the ankles, knees, wrists, fingers, and elbows.

Getting A Massage For Gout Relief

Is a massage good for gout? It can be! As gout is inflammatory, the anti-inflammatory relief massage may bring can be immensely helpful. Different types of massage techniques such as Thai massage and those aimed at helping flush toxins from your body are most beneficial when getting a massage for gout.

If going to a massage therapist while suffering from symptoms of gout doesnt sound like your ideal situation, you might consider the benefits of owning a massage chair, instead. The benefits of massage therapy at home mean you can get a massage for gout in private and whenever you experience an attack. The evolution of massage chairs has effectively eliminated any difference between using a massage chair vs human massage. Massage chairs with foot and leg massage features are ideal. Other massage chair features such as heat therapy and zero gravity reclining capabilities may also help treat gout effectively.

Some of the ways getting a massage for gout can help include:

  • Increasing blood circulation to reduce inflammation
  • Pain relief properties of massage
  • Stress management

Take Your Prescription Drugs

If you’ve had a gout attack before, your physician may have prescribed drugs to treat attacks. This may be your first line of defense or you may decide to use them only when NSAIDs fail to relieve your pain.

Prescription medications to treat gout include:

  • Prednisolone oral tablets, which has been shown to work as well as NSAIDs and often doesnt cause the same stomach upset. Prednisolone is a type of corticosteroid and does carry other potential side effects, particularly if it is taken for longer than the recommended 5 days.4
  • Colchicine, which has been shown effective in reducing pain and inflammation if taken in the first 24 hours of an attack. Always follow your physicians instructions regarding dosing to decrease your risk for potential complications and side effects.

Opioid painkillers, such as codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, are not recommended to treat the pain caused by gout.

See Pain Medications for Arthritis Pain Relief

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Nicole Cutler Lac Mtcm Dipl Ac

Nicole Cutler, L.Ac., MTCM is a long time advocate of integrating perspectives on health. With a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester and a Master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Five Branches Institute, Nicole has been a licensed acupuncturist since 2000. She has gathered acupuncture licenses in the states of California and New York, is a certified specialist with the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association, has earned diplomat status with the National Commission of Chinese and Oriental Medicine in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology and is a member of the Society for Integrative Oncology. In addition to her acupuncture practice that focuses on stress and pain relief, digestion, immunity and oncology, Nicole contributes to the integration of healthcare by writing articles for professional massage therapists and people living with liver disease.

If Youve Ever Had Pain In Your Heels Plantar Fasciitis Is More Than Likely To Be The Culprit

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According to Mayo Clinic, plantar fasciitis is inflammation of a thick tissue that connects your toes to the heel bone. Theres several reasons why the plantar fascia may get inflamed, but when it happened to me it was because I was on my feet for pretty much the entire day. I also remember walking a good 12 km that day, so im sure that probably contributed to my heel pain!

Other causes of plantar fasciitis could be any of the following :

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Drink Plenty Of Water

This wont likely provide immediate relief, but inadequate hydration is known to contribute towards the creation of urate crystals.

Drinking water may flush uric acid crystals out of your system.

Preliminary research suggests that adequate water consumption during the 24-hour period before a gout flare can decrease recurrent gout attacks.

How To Fight Gout Pain

Gout is an excruciatingly painful form of arthritis that often affects the feet. Dietary factors, such as red meat and alcohol, can trigger gout pain. However, medications and medical conditions can be a problem too, says Kenneth G. Saag, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.”Non-food items are the major risk factors for developing gout,” he says. Here are nine such triggers, which could be causing your gout pain.

Also Check: How Many Cherries Should I Eat For Gout

The Clients Who Heal And The Clients Who Dont

Let me explain this concept by creating a comparison between a hypothetical Client A and Client B.

Some clients bodies, like Client As, can heal from pain well through deeper work, stretching or trigger-point therapy. Then there are others, like Client B, in which that same treatment completely backfires, with the person having to go through days of pain and recovery after the treatment.

What is the difference? Why does the same treatment not work the same for both clients?

The answer is that Client B has more pain and inflammation. Because of those constant draining factors, people like Client B do not have the energy to help themselves heal.

This can present a difficult paradox for the therapist, as the client in more pain typically wants you to work out those knots so that he can feel better. Once we finish that deeper work, the client just feels worked over, yet believes he did something to help himselfwhich may or may not be true.

If a client has to recover from bodywork instead of feeling immediately better from that appointment, then whatever work was applied put her body into more pain and inflammation, and she did not have the energy to meet the new, additional demand created by the massage.

What Are Potential Treatments

Gout Pain Relief- REMOVING WHITE CRYSTALS FROM A FOOT – LET IT SNOW!!!

The best way to treat metatarsalgia is to try and rest your feet as much as possible. Try to put your feet up regularly and avoid activities that make the pain worse.

This may mean that you have to stop some of your daily activities, like HIIT training or running. If you want to maintain your fitness level or training, then look at doing low-impact activities, such as cycling or swimming.

You could roll your foot over a frozen water bottle, or apply an ice pack to the affected area several times a day for 10 to 20 minutes. This will help to reduce the inflammation and alleviate pain.

Look at changing your footwear. Shoes that have a wide toe box will allow your toes to splay naturally. This will reduce the pressure on the forefoot. The shoes should also have extra depth so that you can use shock-absorbing pads or insoles, arch supports, or other orthotics in your shoes.

Do gentle foot stretching and strengthening exercises daily. This will help to strengthen the foot muscles, improve mobility, and it can help prevent metatarsalgia in the future.

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Work With Not Against The Body

In my classes, we also talk about how you have to work within the bodys parameters to heal.

What I mean by this is that if your goal is to decrease pain and inflammation, it is not typically gained by increasing pain and inflammation.

There is a demand created by therapeutic inflammationa demand for the energy and raw materials to heal an area. Direct application of massage to an area of muscular pain can go two ways:

  • It will heal, pulling deeply on its resources, finding the energy to repair. The body goes through the amazing transformation of scar tissue through the completion of the inflammatory process.
  • It will not heal. With no resources to pull from, the body escalates into more pain, depleting the body further. The body will force itself to rest due to exhaustion and pain. The rest will give some energy back to healing, but most times pain will increase after treatment, only to return to the same pain level as before treatment.
  • If You Are Having Repeated Attacks See Your Doctor

    Some patients can go a long time between attacks. In fact, for 62 percent of patients the next attack will be more than a year away, and some won’t have another attack in the next 10 years. However, if you begin to have more frequent attacks, talk to your doctor about escalating treatment. People think its normal to have flares every now and then, but its not. The gout can be doing damage to your joints. It means you still have too much uric acid, says Shakouri. In particular, ask about allpurinol. It wont help with an acute attack but will help prevent future attacks by reducing uric acid production.

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    Should You Consider A Massage While Suffering From Gout

    We all love getting a massage but for us gout sufferers can a massage add relief to a gout therapy or cause problems for your gout? One thing is for sure and as stated by massage professionals through their professional guidelines, if you happen to be suffering from a gout attack, a massage should be completely avoided since a massage can do further damage to the affected joint. Any direct pressure could further irritate and inflame the affected area.

    Remember we are dealing with sharp uric acid crystals here! During a period of inflammation you need to rest the affected joint as much as possible. But anytime before and after a period of inflammation or gout attack, it is wise to massage the affected joints to increase blood circulation in that area and get your joint back into shape. If you suffer from a flare-up, it is also tolerable to slightly self-massage the affected area as much as you can bare it, in order to get the blood circulating again and soften the tissues. Apply as much pressure as you like.

    Another 2006 study involving 68 who suffered from osteoarthritis of the knee, a joint commonly affected by gout sufferers, were also split into two groups. The first group received weekly Swedish massages for about 8 weeks. Again the other group did not receive any such therapy. The patients who received the massages reported reduced pain and improved mobility of the knee proving that massage therapy is an effective treatment of arthritis.

    Technique #4 Finger Cup

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    To begin, you will want to warm up your patients hand by giving them some compressions on their hand .

    The compressions are, essentially, light squeezes on the inside and outside of their hand working from the wrist out to the base of the fingers.

    Performing the Massage

    Next, you want to

  • Turn their hand so that their palm is facing up and their fingertips are towards you.
  • Place your pinky between their middle finger and forefinger.
  • Place your two middle fingers between their forefinger and thumb.
  • Place your forefinger on the outside of their thumb.
  • With your other hand, interlace your fingers with theirs, similar to how you did with your other hand. Its a little confusing at first, but heres a video showing how to do it and describing the massage technique.

    Once your hands are in position, use your thumbs to

  • Slowly work from the base of their wrist throughout their palm, paying special attention to the muscles between the finger bones.
  • Work slowly and methodically through their entire hand, being extra careful with the intensity and pressure youre putting on their hand.
  • Its important to follow the reaction of your patient as youre doing this, allowing them to guide you and tell you if it hurts.
  • Once you have finished massaging the palm

  • Work your way through each finger, starting at the base and working towards the tip.
  • Use both of your thumbs to work the joints side to side and back and forth.
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    Can You Massage Gout Away

    I must repeat that massaging a joint during the gout flare is a big NO. You must avoid this at all costs or you will end up with even more damaged tissue inside. On the other side, you should massage the join daily, before and after the attack.

    The pressure you need to apply depends on you. Try to find an optimal pressure that will help you, but wont inflict any pain. Start with low pressure and gradually increase it on a weekly basis.

    Besides the obvious, you will have a great time and you will be more relaxed and enjoy more. Gout and massage can be defined as good or bad, depending on when and how you massage yourself. I recommend you to massage only the affected join once per day. Full body massage is beneficial as well and it can help you with uric acid when done by professionals.

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    Self Cross Fiber Massage Treatment

    This first technique that involves cross fiber movements works really well, and it only takes a couple minutes to do. Best of all, its something you can do by yourself! . Watch the video below and try for yourself.

    Did you give it a shot? Did you notice any relief from the aching pain in your heel? This is one technique that I certainly have benefited from!

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    Fourth Stage Chronic Tophaceous Gout

    Finally, chronic tophaceous gout, or fourth-stage gout, occurs when gout is left untreated for too long. Most people do not get this far with proper medication and treatment. Often taking several years or more than a decade to develop fully, chronic tophaceous gout entails hard nodules called tophi developing in the joints and tissues surrounding the joints.

    Over time, tophi can do permanent damage to the joints and is the most debilitating, causing skin ulcers to appear. This is extremely rare and only if left untreated for decades. Tophi also often appear in other parts of the body, such as the fingers and ears. Permanent kidney damage at this point is also a possibility.

    More Help With Massage For Gout Relief

    Gout Relief – Sani Kamis, Singapore Podiatrist

    Generally speaking, it looks like massage for gout relief is a good thing. However, you need to be careful. I agree with Dr Kerkar, and I recommend a few sessions with an experienced massage therapist before you start applying gout massage yourself.

    If you want more information about gout relief that does not involve medicine, please see my Gout Relief Guidelines, linked at the end of this massage guideline. But what if you want more help with massage for gout relief?

    I recommend talking to your doctor about gout massage therapy, or any other aspect of gout treatment that you are not happy about. But maybe you are unsure what to ask, or youve tried it, but didnt understand the answers. Thats why I supply personal help with all my gout guidelines. Gout treatment is a personal matter, and I want you to be clear about massage for Your gout relief.

    The easiest way to get more help is to start your own Gout Massage discussion. I also recommend you follow the latest forum discussions by getting email notification:

    If you prefer to read more gout facts, please browse my guideline, or look for more non-medical gout treatments in my Gout Relief Guidelines.

    Leave Massage for Gout Relief to browse .

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    Some Massage Tips For Toe Massage Are

    • The area located between the bottom base of the toe and the ball of the foot should be massaged. This helps in directly stimulating the blood circulation in the affected region.
    • Massage the point present midway between the bottom of the little finger and the heel pad. This works as an acupressure point and relieves pain and swelling by encouraging uric acid excretion.

    Watch 3D Video of Gout: Treatment, Massage Therapy, Prevention

    When Most People Think Of Gout They Think Of Intense Pain In The Big Toe But Its Not Always The Big Toe You Can Also Experience Joint Pain In The Ankles Elbows Knees Fingers And Wrists

    Gout Can Be A Painful Condition!

    If you are a sufferer of gout, Id be interested to know more about your condition. How severe pain do you experience, and how frequent does it happen? Does it come and ago at certain times, or is it there for continuous long spells? Drop a comment and share your experience! I love hearing from you.

    So the culprit behind all of this is something called uric acid. Its this uric acid that leads to the formation or urate crytals, which is basically what forms and accumulates around joints causing the inflammation which then subsequently causes pain .

    So if uric acid is the issue, what invokes its production in the body? So your body produces uric acid when it breaks down something called purines. Purines are naturally found in the body, and of course certain foods are also rich in purines. For example, red meats, certain seafood, and alcoholic beverages such as beer.

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    How To Get Rid Of Your Big Toe Gout Through Foot Massage

    Here you will find a guide to help you get rid of your big toe gout through foot massage. Remove your socks and shoes and sit on a soft, cushioned surface. Soft couches work best. You will be massaging your own foot, so you will need to lean back and pull your feet towards you. Soft, comfortable couches work well.

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