5 Things That Could Make Your Joint Inflammation Worse

Introduction

Whether you have a form of Arthritis, a complex pain or fatigue disorder, just plain wear and tear, or something else, joint inflammation is terrible. When the joints hurt, life is a misery. When moving hurts, it makes you want to move less, which will likely make the joint stiffness and inflammation worse – a vicious cycle. Many people I have met with chronic illness have been trapped by inflammation, tortured every day by the pain and the knowledge it is getting worse. There are ways of this, and hopefully, the following 5 things will shed some light on how.

Inactivity

It’s a frustratingly over-exposed truth that inactivity does make inflammation in the joints worse. Over-exposure online isn’t a bad thing, but when this keeps getting thrown in the faces of people who are in pain every day but have tried moving and found it makes it worse, it becomes highly insensitive. Yes, inactivity makes inflammation worse, but not directly. The reduced activity means the muscles will get weaker, sometimes tighter, and atrophy a little. These three factors mean a joint will get weaker, more unstable, and have less blood flow overall. This allows inflammation to creep in and take hold of the joint. Inactivity doesn’t bring the inflammation in, it simply allows it more room to grow over time.

Increasing your activity levels is the obvious remedy to this, but what bothers me is so few sources actually explain how to do this when stricken with high levels of pain and inflammation. Going to the gym for half an hour will set off a flare. Going for a long walk will set off a flare. Picking up some weights or doing a long bike ride will set off a flare…so what the hell are you supposed to do? This is what you do – small bouts of low-intensity movement, at three fixed points during the day. That is a moderated activity structure. You don’t risk over-exertion, and you’re certainly not undercooking it. The key is to get the body moving again sure, but in small enough doses that a flare doesn’t kick in, but enough to start seeing results in 2-4 weeks. I’ve tried and tested this method with EVERY inflammation client I’ve had, and it has worked every, single, time.

The length of time you do a single bout of activity within this structure should be 5-10mins and the times per day are 3. That is 30 minutes total and I’d give 3-4 hours in between each bout too. Start off just walking around the garden or around where you live, 6 weeks later you’re doing it for 10 minutes each time. Bringing activity levels up when dealing with inflammation is a gradual process, be patient, believe in the process, and in three months’ time you will be more active. From that point, you can increase the intensity however you like but keep it gradual. 

Overexertion

The complete opposite of the first, moving too much can increase inflammation! Over-exertion can certainly bring a flare as we know, but it can make inflammation much more severe in short-term post-activity. This is because activity, when done too much or at too higher an intensity, puts the inflamed areas under too much stress for what is manageable. This stress not only makes the literal inflammation worse, but also makes the surrounding muscles tighter, weakens them whilst they repair, and agitates the muscle anatomy which makes them sore after anyway. These three things make any muscle painful after exertion but also send an already-inflamed area through the roof.

I see this happen a lot to folks with chronic illnesses. It’s a cruel side effect of a good day, where someone wakes up in less pain, less fatigue, and feels relatively ‘normal’, as I hear it said. So then that individual goes headlong into activity because they do not know when their next good day will be, and so overexertion kicks in, and the flare happens the next day. This has been an issue in my household for many years, and have seen it happen many, many times. It’s miserable.

My advice for limiting your activity levels when suffering from inflammation is a tough reality to accept – it’s moderation. No person should ever have to be told to ‘moderate’ their freedom and right to move by someone else, whether they have an illness or not. It’s not something I like to say, and it’s certainly not something I want to advise either. The truth is that most chronic illnesses with inflammation as a symptom often mean a person can’t move as well, for as long as they’d like to. To preserve their movement, as well as improve it over time, means doing smaller, frequent bouts of activity to create far fewer consequences. Overexerting, or doing too much activity across a period will make your inflammation worse. Build up to that level slowly, and you will reap the rewards of patience, I promise you.

Cold weather and Barometric pressure changes

A strange one this. We all likely know that cold weather makes joints and muscles stiffer, but because of that increased stiffness, your inflammation can feel worse. The coldness also makes us tighter, reduces blood flow to the flesh, makes bodily fluids thicker, and is quite frankly uncomfortable. Cold weather is also an activity deterrent and so it could make an individual less inclined to go outside, as opposed to a warm day. More tightness, more stiffness, less blood flow, and less activity all combine to make inflammation worse on that cold day.

Barometric pressure however is something I’ve found overlooked quite often. This is when the air pressure in the atmosphere changes and can have minor or major effects on our bodies. When the temperature drops on a cold day, the barometric pressure changes too and this in itself can enhance inflammation. This pressure change can make joints ache and swell a little due to connective tissues contracting and expanding, and it can exacerbate old injuries and scars. These two environmental factors can certainly make your inflammation worse so stay warm, and if you have to be outside then stay moving.

Foods

That’s right, there are quite a few foods or types of foods that have been shown to increase inflammation through various responses in the body. These responses and increases will absolutely vary from person to person, but they’re things to look out for when you do your shopping. Amounts you can tolerate will also vary as every person’s digestion and consumption tolerances are different. I won’t be going into too much detail with these as I could write an entire blog post on each one, but just to make you aware of them if you aren’t already.

The foods are sugar, dairy, fatty foods (saturated), some refined carbohydrates, gluten, AGE products (e.g. cinnamon), and finally alcohol, tobacco, and additives. It’s a large spread and I’m certainly not saying cut them all out. Look at each one individually and ask yourself how much you consume, if any. Some of these are bad for you anyway and so perhaps it’s better they disappear from your diet from the off, but others are usually fine in moderation. Have a quick research session and investigate each one, and how they relate to inflammation. I will be doing posts for each of these when time allows but contact me via my email if you have any questions.

Stress

Last one on this list, and it’s stress. Mental stress, not physically created stress. Stress is the hidden hand that makes everything worse, worse. Stress has been shown to make many symptoms worse, and there are various reasons as to why this is.

It can make everything tighter and stiffer like over-exertion does. It can make your fatigue worse, which makes your pain worse, which makes your inflammation worse as a result. Stress can have such widespread effects, in different departments too. It can stop you from sleeping, which slows your body’s natural repairs and resets right down. That makes inflammation worse. Stress can make some medications less effective, which you may need for inflammation suppression, which makes it worse. Stress can make a person eat the wrong type of foods, and that can make your inflammation worse. Stress is a trigger, an ignition, that starts chain reactions all over, and most lead to more pain, more fatigue, and more inflammation. The examples are endless.

My advice is for stress is not something I can put so simply. If you can, assess what is stressing you out, and work on controllable methods to alleviate some of it. No, we can’t cure our stress, it has a mind of its own. But if you take one thing away from this section, it’s this – protect your sleep.

Conclusion

And there we have it, a short guide on the 5 most common things to cause joint inflammation. There are many more than this, some much more complex. Hopefully, you can find ways to remove elements of these to help with that pain you’re in, but remember, it’s always trial and error. You know already inflammation won’t lighten overnight but stick with it and it will gradually.

Mark