Dr. Prabhudev .K.Basappa

The body is controlled by chemicals known as hormones. These are produced in minute quantities by minute organs, but have great control on almost all body functions. There are different hormones, each determining different functions like how tall a person will grow, how strong the bones will be, how well a person can react to stress and the reproductive ages. There is also a master gland called the pituitary which is situated somewhere deep in the brain, which controls all these organs. Small variations in the amount of these chemicals in the body produce significant effect on their respective control organ.

Thyroid is one such major gland, which produces a hormone called thyroxine or T4 as it is commonly called. This controls metabolism and emotional health to a large extent. Reduced amounts of T4 is very common in women, and with altered metabolism, there is increased musculoskeletal pain in various joints.

Here are some of the best ways to reduce Joint Pain from Hypothyroidism:

1. Step Up to Low-Impact Aerobics: Twenty to 60 minutes of near-daily aerobics — really any exercise that gets your heart pumping — can help speed up your metabolism and counter weight gain, a common hypothyroidism symptom and a contributor to joint pain. But if you have joint or knee pain, choose low-impact aerobics. Swimming is the ideal low-impact aerobic exercise — the water buoys your body and cushions joints.
2. Strengthen Your Muscles: Strength- or weight-training exercises build muscle mass, which uses more calories than fat even at rest. That promotes weight loss and can ease the strain on your joints. Stronger muscles also directly help protect nearby joints. For example, strengthening exercises such as squats, lunges, and leg lifts develop the muscles that support the knees. Start slow with 15 repetitions of each exercise. Then build up to three sets of 15 reps each.
3. Get Plenty of Sleep: Sleep is the time for muscles and joints to recover. If you're not sleeping well, you are not recovering as fast as you could be. What's more, when you're sleep deprived, you're likely to crave junk and comfort foods that can contribute to weight gain, which adds stress to your joints and increases joint pain. Aim for seven to eight hours of quality sleep each night.
4. Stick to a Healthy Diet: Replace the junk food that can lead to weight gain with choices that enhance your health. For example, add fatty fish to your diet. It's a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, known to decrease inflammation, which may be contributing to your muscle and joint pain. Coldwater fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna have some the highest amounts of omega-3s. Also be sure to get lots of fresh fruit and vegetables high in antioxidants, which may counter inflammation, too.
5. Practice Yoga: Yoga poses are a great way to provide relief for joint pain while also increasing flexibility. For shoulder pain, look for poses that open your chest, like this simple pose: Sit with your feet flat on the floor. As you inhale, stretch your arms over your head. Clasp your hands together over your head and then turn your palms up toward the ceiling. Drop your shoulders and straighten up as if pushing through your head. Hold for 30 seconds. Release your hands, bringing them down behind you. Next, clasp your hands behind your back and lift your arms. Hold for another 30 seconds.
6. Don't Let Fatigue Win: Fatigue is one of the most common hypothyroidism symptoms. Even though you might feel listless, you'll benefit from exercise because it will rev your metabolism and help you maintain flexibility despite muscle and joint pain. If you're too exhausted to complete a full exercise routine, break it up into several short bouts — even 10 minutes done three times a day will be effective. Also, stretching and relaxation exercises within two hours of bedtime may help you sleep better.
7. Meditate for Stress Relief: Having a chronic condition such as hypothyroidism can be stressful, and that stress can actually contribute to pain and tension. That's why it's important to find ways to reduce stress, such as the practice of mindfulness meditation. This form of meditation teaches you how to distract yourself from what's bothering you by refocusing your attention, often on your own breathing. 

Thyroid hormones help all your organs work well. They control how your body uses food for energy.

What Do Thyroids Do

Thyroid hormones affect your metabolism rate, which means how fast or slow your brain, heart, muscles, liver, and other parts of your body work. If your body works too fast or too slowly, you won’t feel well. For example, if you don’t have enough thyroid hormone, you might feel tired and cold. Or, if you have too much thyroid hormone, you might feel nervous, jumpy, and warm.

What hormones does my thyroid gland produce?

The thyroid gland produces thyroxine (T4), which is a relatively inactive prohormone and lower amounts of the active hormone, triiodothyronine (T3). Collectively, T3 and T4 are referred to as the thyroid hormones. Twenty percent of the body’s triiodothyronine is made by the thyroid gland; the other 80% comes from thyroxine converted by organs such as the liver or kidneys.

The thyroid gland also produces calcitonin from cells called C-cells. Calcitonin is understood to play a role in regulating calcium levels in the body, but its exact function in humans remains unclear. Thyroid hormone is one such chemical which has effect on all organs of the body including the joints. Vague pains may be due to thyroid disorders. They are easy to manage with treatment.

Hi,

I’m Dr. Sidharth Verma and I will tell you in this video, about back pain and what to do if you have back pain. So, the back pain is fairly common and it affects most of us at some point in our lifetime. So, if it starts having pain in your back. By back, I mean upper, middle, or lower back. what would you do? If you have a pain for 2 to 3 months, then you did not go to the doctor immediately, you can also follow some simple steps and this can help you in getting relief from the back pain. These steps are first of all you should analyze whether have had any injury. Because injury means that there must be some sprain or strain or maybe some ligament tear or which has resulted in this pain because is a protective mechanism of the body. So, a body is trying to tell you there is something wrong somewhere so you have to pay attention to it. If you have a short-lived pain with the  injury then I strongly recommend that you should go to a doctor and get yourself examined.

This is especially true if you’re having other symptoms also like you are having some tingling or numbness or weakness or maybe some urine disturbances or maybe some other symptoms like severe pain which is intolerable. However if there is no history of injury and you are having a back pain which you think may be due to some stress or some strenuous exercise or you are not sure of due to what reason it’s happening then you may follow the steps which I will tell you and you can have a good amount of relief from your back pain. So, The first step is, we make a great mistake of resting as soon as we have back pain, so, by resting, I mean that we will often call our office and tell Okay I am not coming for 5, 7 days and maybe I will not even drive, not move. So, we immobilize ourselves but however this is not required in most of the cases as if the pain is muscular, it is likely to even worse by your immobilization or you’re giving a total rest to your back. So what to do if not to do a complete resting? So the first and foremost thing which you need to do is to correct your posture or your activity which has led to this back pain. So You can start by analyzing your daily posture, you can start with analyzing with our daily work, you can start by analyzing your diet if you are overweight you can start by analyzing your weight and then you can probably have a relief from this bask pain as well as preventing the worsening of your symptoms. Another possible thing which you can do or try at your home is and it’s very simple, you can improve your sleeping bed or where you sleep in the night. Often, I have seen patients that, they sleep on greatly cushioned bed and as soon as they lie down the mattress just compresses and they fell very fluffy and very nice, but it is not good for your back.your mattress should be hard enough, so, that it is now easily compressed and when you lie down on it. You can easily lie on it comfortably but it should not be very compressible.

This is important because you lie down your body and your mattress should be able to maintain the normal curves. Your back has normal curves so if you can maintain them while you are lying down you will be good and fine. Another common thing which you can do is to increase your water intake. If you are having a less water intake, then, you are dehydrated. You have more chances of worsening your back pain. Now come to some common painkillers which usually people take in their homes or in their offices or their workplaces if they have this back pain. These painkillers are drugs which actually meant to give you short-term relief from your pain and they should not be taken for a  prolonged period of time without medical advice. Although they are available over the counter, that means they are available to you without a prescription but you should better avoid them because excessive use may lead to harm and this may affect your systems like the renal systems and that is the kidneys or the hepatic system. So, what kind of painkillers can you possibly take? You can start with the paracetamol or crocin and the dose should be 650mg once a day. The role of this paracetamol is now very questionable and some people have advised that since it will not help in the long run. So, it should be better avoided. Another common drug which people take is are some sprays which consist of a drug known as declo-finnick the common brands names are Bellini, dr.gel, or dynapower, so, they actually defuse through your muscles or through your skin and then they reach your muscles and the surrounding tissues and they help to decrease the inflammation and help you relief from your pain. Another thing which you can try is if there is a strain or sprain or something. In acute condition like if you had an injury today and then you can apply cold on the region and if you had this problem say 3,4 days then you can try applying heat and this helps you to recover and there are certain things which you should take care of these things are there then you should immediately seek medical advice. These things are also known as red flags, so if you are having back pain and you are having any of these things then you should go immediately to the doctor. These include a fever and neck rigidity, that is stiffness in your neck muscle, any nausea, vomiting, any weakness in your lower limbs or any part of the body. If there is any urinary symptom or bladders symptoms we also call it and as well as any difficulty in passing the stools so if you if there is any seizure that is if the patients are having seizures then also you should immediately try and visit the nearest doctor. Now if you don’t do that then there are chances that the condition will increase and it will result in maybe increased damage over a period of time. To know more you can visit library website on www.lybrate.com/dr.sidharthverma, and you can also visit my website at pain.org.in. Thank you.

Your bone is a living tissue that constantly undergoes the cycle of breakage and replacement. Osteoporosis is a condition wherein the rate at which new bones form cannot match up to the worn out bones, thus making the bones fragile and brittle. Osteoporosis mainly affects the wrist, hip or spine and can result in a stooped posture accompanied by height shrinkage and back pain caused due to a collapsed vertebra.

Reasons Behind Osteoporosis

1. Hormones: Lowered estrogen count in women and testosterone in men as a result of ageing or other treatments can result in this condition. Excess thyroid secretion in the body, an overactive adrenalin gland or parathyroid gland can also accelerate bone loss. Women are more vulnerable to osteoporosis during menopause.

2. Prolonged use of injected: Prolonged use of injected or oral corticosteroid medications such as cortisone or prednisone messes with the bone-building process. Medicines used to combat cancer, gastric reflux and seizures can be responsible as well.

3. Medical Conditions: Certain medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, liver or kidney disease increases the risks of acquiring osteoporosis.

4. Sedentary Lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle with not much physical activity along with an excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco makes you susceptible to osteoporosis.

Treatments for Osteoporosis:

1. Medication: Commonly prescribed medicines for remedying fractures include bisphosphonates such as Zoledronic acid, Ibandronate, Risedronate and Alendronate.However these medicines are not free of side-effects such as abdominal pain, nausea or heart burn. In case, your regular medicine doesn’t work, you can use Denosumab and Teriparatide as alternatives but only after consulting your physician.
2. Hormone Therapy: Estrogen therapy for women after menopause helps sustain bone density. However such procedures can escalate the dangers of getting afflicted with cancer, heart diseases or conditions such as blood clotting.
3. Alternative Medicine: Ipriflavone, a laboratory manufactured product, when combined with calcium can curb chances of bone loss and alleviate pain. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult an orthopedist.