Massage For Gout In Foot

Gout Remedies That Work

Gout, a little-known type of arthritis, can cause searing pain in your toes, feet and other joints. If youre at risk and you might be if a relative suffers from the disorder it can come on with little warning. Read on to learn about the best gout remedies available, as well as alternative treatments that relieve gout pain while limiting side effectsGout isnt making a comeback it just never went away.You may think this illness, once known as rich mans disease because it was thought to come from eating fatty foods, disappeared with Charles Dickens. In fact, its the most common inflammatory arthritis in men over 30 and women are just as susceptible after menopause.It often comes on suddenly in the night, turning your big toe into a poker of pain red, hot and swollen.Gout is caused by a buildup of uric acid a waste product left by dead cells in the blood, either because your body produces too much or excretes too little. The uric acid eventually crystallizes, forming tiny needles that work into joints, leading to intense pain and swelling.

When To Contact A Doctor

A person should contact a doctor if they experience any symptoms of gout.

As gout flares can last for days or weeks, a person should contact a doctor if their symptoms last for a prolonged period of time. Treatment options are more effective when a person receives them in the early stages of a gout flare.

The doctor will also be able to confirm whether or not gout is present. They will carry out a physical examination of the affected joint and may also request other tests, such as:

• a blood test, which measures the level of uric acid in the body

Birch Bud Essential Oil

Birch bud essential oil has excellent, anti-inflammatory compounds which are important for relieving gout pain. What also makes birch bud essential oil one of the best essential oils for gout pain is that it is an all-natural cleansing agent, which helps to break down the uric acid particles causing the pain.

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Essential Oils For Gout Recipes And Treatments With Quick Results

For potent and fast pain relief, a hot towel compress is extremely effective.

Instructions:

• To get the blood flowing, soak the affected area in cold water for several minutes.
• Use a soft cloth to pat the skin dry.
• Add 3 6 drops of your chosen essential oil or essential oil blend to a tsp of carrier oil and massage it into the affected area.
• Soak a soft towel in hot water and wring it out. Then, place it over the affected area where you have massaged in the essential oils.
• Keep the towel lightly wrapped around the area until the heat has subsided.
• You can repeat this procedure 2 3 times per day, as needed.

Can It Lead To Any Complications

If left unmanaged, gout-related inflammation can cause permanent damage to your ankle joint, especially if you have frequent flare-ups.

Over time, lumps of uric acid crystals, called tophi, can also form around your ankle. These lumps arent painful, but they can cause additional swelling and tenderness during a flare-up.

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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

Gout Frequently Flares In Your Knee But You May Not Always Know That Your Knee Pain Is Due To Gout Heres How To Tell Since Prompt Treatment Can Reduce Your Risk Of Complications

Knee pain can be a common symptom of several types of arthritis, as well as many other conditions or injuries. If your knee stiffness is accompanied by a burning pain and is warm to touch, you may have a gout flare in the knee.

Though gout is most often associated with the big toe, gout tends to flare in areas that already have arthritis, says Robert Keenan, MD, a rheumatologist with Articularis Healthcare in Summerville, South Carolina. Although gout can strike in many different joints, as a general rule, gout works its way up the body. If its not treated, it works its way up from the big toe, through the ankle, to the knee, and then to the lower spine and so on.

Gout can affect both knees, but typically is felt more strongly in one knee say, where you may have arthritis wear-and-tear to begin with.

Learn more about what causes gout in the knee, as well as ways to treat the pain and prevent it in the future.

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Treatment For Gout In The Foot Pain Relief

1) Painkillers

We covered off a lot of this in our article on gout pain treatments, except to add that where your feet are concerned, if you feel a gout attack just about to start, you may be better gently applying an anti-inflammatory topical cream if your toes/ heel are not too painful.

This will potentially get to the source much faster than swallowing a tablet.

Other than that, the effect of painkillers is fairly universal, so doesnt warrant special coverage here.

2) Ice Treatment

Where your foot is concerned, ice treatment is a great option for slowing down the blood flow and reducing the swelling/ bruising that will cause much of your pain. This is also easy to apply any standard water-based foot massager can be filled with cold water and you just pop your foot in to soak.

Ideally you should add ice to the water, although never put ice directly on your skin as it could cause burns.

Alternatively, pop a towel in the freezer and leave it for an hour, then get it out and gently wrap it around your affected foot. A bag of frozen vegetables is another option but can squash your foot, leading to a trauma and extra pain.

This is perhaps the 2nd best treatment for gout in the foot as it is easy to do, required little extra equipment and can potentially be carried out at work in an office if you are really suffering.

3) Supportive Equipment

This is especially true if you get gout in both feet a walking stick will typically only take pressure off one side.

4) Rest.

Uric Acid Is The Cause

When there is an overabundance of uric acid in the blood it is called gout. Usually, having too much uric acid in the blood is not harmful. In fact many people with high levels in their blood never know about it. When uric acid levels in the blood become extremely high, the uric acid may start to form crystals. These crystals most commonly form in the joints, especially the joints in the big toe. Your odds of experiencing the pain of gout are higher if you are overweight, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, or have a diet that is comprised of meat and fish that are high in chemicals called purines.

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Second Stage Or Acute Gout

Hyperuricemia in the bloodstream can progress to forming urate crystals in the joints of the foot, ankle or knee once these crystals appear, they cause swelling and moderate-to-intense pain, in what is now acute gout. This can make the joints hypersensitive to touch, even from something as innocuous as ones own sheets, to the point of excruciating pain. The redness and swelling associated with acute gout makes the feet feel warm to the touch.

Acute gout attacks usually continue appearing over a period of months or years, manifesting very suddenly and lasting several days to weeks, if left untreated and can get more frequent and worse, causing joint damage as well as tendon and other tissue damage.

Gout In Foot: Causes And Risk Factors

In about 90 percent of hyperuricaemia cases, there is impaired renal excretion in about 10 percent, there is a problem with overproduction.

• Urate overproduction can be linked to lifestyle factors and certain diseases such as bone marrow cancers, psoriasis, and hemolytic anemia. Lifestyle factors include being overweight and ingesting excess amount of fructose or alcohol.
• Renal impairment has multiple causes, including gene mutations, hypertension, diuretic drugs, lead exposure, and cyclosporine immunosuppressive therapy.
• Gender and age. Men are twice as likely to develop gout as women. In men, the risk rises with age. Gout is uncommon in younger women but the incidence increases dramatically after menopause, due to falling estrogen.
• Western diet. There is solid evidence from the Health Professional Follow-up Study of a link between gout and purine-rich foods. See gout diet.
• Medications. Diuretics, antihypertensives, niacin, aspirin, chemotherapy and immunosuppressive drugs increase the risk of gout.
• Other conditions. Certain conditions carry an increased risk of gout including: Recent joint injury or surgery, cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, anemia, psoriasis, renal disease, blood cancers, and metabolic syndrome.

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Massage Blends With Essential Oils For Gout Pain Relief

Massage is the perfect way to use essential oils for gout pain relief.

Recipe 1:

• In a 5ml dark, glass, dropper bottle, add:
• 6 Drops lavender essential oil
• 8 Drops peppermint essential oil
• 12 Drops rosemary essential oil
• 4 tbsp of a carrier oil of your choice

Blend the mixture well and massage it into the affected areas 3 times per day.

Recipe 2:

• In a 5ml dark, glass, dropper bottle, add:
• 10 Drops lavender essential oil
• 8 Drops peppermint essential oil
• 8 Drops birch bud essential oil
• 4 tbsp of a carrier oil of your choice

Again, blend the mixture well and massage it into the affected area 3 times per day.

Gout And Poor Circulation

How exactly does getting a massage for gout work, you ask? First, massage has been shown to help increase blood flow. This better blood circulation helps alleviate inflammation and improve joint health. As gout attacks the joints in your body , this benefit of massage therapy tops the list!

As blood flows more efficiently through the body, it lessens inflammation around joints while delivering oxygen and nutrients to heal tissue that may be damaged. Increased circulation is the source of many benefits of massage therapy. If youre unable to get to a massage therapist, you might also try lymphatic drainage self massage. This type of massage technique is one of the best for increasing blood flow and the movement of lymph within the body, which helps flush toxins. Lymphatic drainage self massage does take time to learn, however, so choosing massage chair programming that may assist with this can be extremely beneficial.

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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.

Treating Gout At Home

This section on how to relieve gout pain is a very useful reference for those nights when you wake

up in agony. When you have a gout attack, you need to get the uric acid out of your system and treat

the pain.

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Technique #1 Bend And Release

This choice is a great option if your pain is severe or your mobility is very limited from your arthritis symptoms.

Make sure, while youre doing these exercises, that you dont push yourself too far and you gradually build up to higher intensities over the coming weeks.

Fist Squeeze

This exercise is a simple as it sounds. Begin by

Open your hand back up to the starting position and repeat this process anywhere from 8 to 12 times.

Finger Bends

To begin this exercise you will

Repeat the sequence as often as you need, remembering to not push yourself too far. Stop if you feel pain.

Finger Lifts

This exercise is great if you have arthritis pain in the bottom knuckles of your fingers. To begin, place your hand flat on a hard surface, like a table, with your palm down.

Starting with your forefinger

Pain And Swelling Are Gouts Calling Cards

The most frequent signs of a gout attack are swelling, tenderness, redness, and a sharp pain in your big toe. These attacks are most common at night when you are sitting still and laying flat on your back. While gout usually manifests in the big toe, you may also experience gout attacks in your foot, ankle, or knees. The attacks can be short or long, anywhere from a few days to weeks and you may not have another attack may for months or years.

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Should You Massage The Affected Gouty Joints

Massage therapy seems to provide relief for most gout sufferers. However, majority of massage therapists believe that massaging the sore, gouty joints is definitely not a good idea. In fact, massage should be avoided if you happen to be suffering from a gout attack as it can do further damage to the affected joint. Remember, we are dealing with sharp crystallized uric crystals. It will add to the pain you are trying to endure.

During a period of inflammation, it would be best to rest the affect area. But in between gout attacks, receiving massage can be beneficial. Since massage is known to improve blood flow and blood oxygen saturation, it is wise to massage the affected joints to soften the tissues, get your previously affected joints back in shape, and increase much needed blood circulation to those gout ravaged areas.

While gout cannot be cured, it can be controlled with a number of natural remedies and treatments. Massage is helpful in the management of gout with the previously mentioned improvement of circulation to the affected joints and its surrounding tissues, which speeds healing time by reducing swelling and inflammation. This will also help limit spasms from tense muscles and joints and will reduce your pain in the future.

Foot Bath With Essential Oils For Gout Relief

Instructions:

• Blend 12 drops of any essential oils of your choice with 2 tsp milk.
• Fill up 2 basins with water one basin with hot water and the other with cold water.
• Add the essential oils to each of the basins.
• Soak your feet in hot water for 10 minutes.
• Then, soak your feet in cold water for 10 minutes.
• As you soak your feet, gently massage the drifting oil droplets into your feet and affected areas.
• Repeat the procedure as necessary.

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Massage For Gout Relief Introduction

Massage for Gout Relief

Massaging sore joints seems to provide relief for many gout sufferers. Against this, most qualified massage professionals advise against massaging areas affected by inflammation. So is gout massage a good idea?

For the answer, I sought advice from a doctor: Pramod Kerkar MD from Epainassist.com. In an old gout forum post Dr Kerkar stated:

Massage therapy is very helpful in the management of gout by promoting blood circulation to the affected area and thereby reducing inflammation and swelling.

What Are The Benefits Of Foot Reflexology

Reflexology may be beneficial as a treatment alongside other treatments for a condition, but be sure to consult your doctor before starting a new treatment.

Its important to note that although reflexology has been practiced in many countries for thousands of years, there is scant scientific evidence available to prove its effectiveness.

A 2015 study noted that strong evidence to support foot reflexology is lacking, despite many small-scale trials and anecdotal evidence.

If nothing else, foot reflexology may be a soothing, relaxing way to wind down and give some massage-like attention to your feet.

Foot reflexology may help with:

• stress and relaxation

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