What is Arthritis - Where to Buy Braces For Arthritis?

Arthritis is an inflammation of joints, which causes limited movement, stiffness, pain, and swelling. In this painful condition, there is a breakdown of articular cartilage in charge of protecting the joint and absorbing shocks when pressure is exerted on the joints. If the amount of this cartilage decreases, the bones rub together causing friction and pain. There are around 100 types of arthritis, some are inflammatory and some are autoimmune namely osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, reactive arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, pseudogout, polymyositis, Lyme disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, gout, and many more. Arthritis can result from inflammation or from a bone fracture, infection, or wear and tear of the joints. The swelling usually goes away once arthritis gets treated but when arthritis is not treatable for a long period of time and also pains do not disappear, it indicates the presence of chronic arthritis and the most common form of chronic arthritis is osteoarthritis. Those who have injured a joint or are repeatedly subjected to constant overuse injuries such as ballet dancers, construction workers, typists, etc. are more likely to suffer from this condition. Overweight people are also prone to develop arthritis rather increased weight can make the condition worse.

In arthritis, a person experiences the following symptoms and they are joint pain and swelling, stiffness (especially in the mornings), heat and redness around the joint, and decreased ability to move the joint. Both men and women are affected by arthritis. In U.S. alone, there are more than 40 million people who suffer from arthritis, which is equivalent to almost one of every seven people. Early diagnosis of arthritis prevents further damage of the joints and gives a better quality of life for patients.

There are various forms of treatment available for treatment of arthritis, i.e., application of heat or cold, hydrotherapy, transcutaneous nerve stimulation, physical therapy, conservative treatment with anti-inflammatory medications, chiropractic treatment, natural treatment with herbal remedies for arthritis, surgery for chronic arthritis, and bracing and splinting or what in simple words can be said as use of orthotics to relieve and treat arthritic conditions, so there are plenty of ways to deal with this disease; but, most methods of arthritis treatment are designed to reduce pain, swelling, and stiffness, and prevent worsening of the condition due to more wear and tear of the joint.

For this, orthopedic doctors recommend to wear a brace to immobilize and offload the joint temporarily to relive pain and swelling. The most common types of braces used for this are offloading braces, functional braces, and rehabilitative braces. Arthritis patients most commonly use rehabilitative and functional braces. Other important braces for arthritis are off-loading braces for unicompartmental knee arthritis, functional knee braces for knee arthritis, rehabilitative braces for hand arthritis, and other joint support braces for arthritis. The purpose of braces mentioned above is to off load the joint, decrease pain, increase the ability to move the joint, and delay the need for a joint replacement surgery if any. Your orthopedic doctor is the best guide who will tell you to buy a brace for arthritis.

The selection of braces depends on the location of problem, age and size of patient, and type of braces chosen. For example, if you have knee osteoarthritis, you doctor will give you a prescription to buy a knee brace for arthritis of small, medium, or large size. He can also recommend you to wear a brace made by special brands or manufactures like DonJoy, FLA Orthopedics, Wellgate for Women, etc.

You can buy braces for knee, thumb, finger, ankle, hand, back, neck, and wrist arthritis by trusted online stores like Amazon and Ebay. If you are not able to find a brace according to your size, you can also order a custom-made brace online according to your size and specifications, but custom-made braces are always costly than company-made braces that are already in the stores.

At last, it could be said that arthritis is a severely disabling condition and conservative measures like medicines, physical therapy, brace wear, icy hot for arthritis, etc. can prevent or delay the need to undergo a major surgery and let the patient live a healthy life.