Human bones are continuously being removed and formed, which is necessary for its proper maintenance. However, in certain cases, especially with aging, some bones and joints will be worn down to an extent where the body will not be able to reform them. This is especially true in the case of hips, which may become worn due to age or other problems within the body. 

Hip replacement surgery 
When this happens, a hip replacement surgery can be performed to replace the original joints with a prosthesis or artificial hip, which is usually made out of metal or a specially formed composite material or even a combination of the two. Along with other parts, it replaces the natural hip with an artificial hip to restore mobility and other related functions.

Benefits of hip replacement surgery:
1. Lessening hip pain: This is one of the major factors as well as symptoms of requiring hip replacement surgery. Due to the grinding down of the bones, even the slightest movement causes pain and after the surgery and the recovery period, the pain is lessened.

2. Correction of bone deformity: When the bones grind down and are abnormally reformed, deformities may occur reducing mobility. Artificial hips will ensure that deformities are corrected and resulting problems are thus eliminated.

3. Return to normal activities: This is possibly one of the primary advantages of this surgery, although it entails a long recovery period. However, most patients can get back to their normal activities and are able to resume a pain free life.

4. Ability to have painless sleep: Many people who suffer from hip displacements or bone deformities are not able to sleep properly due to pain. After the surgery and the recovery period, they can return to normal functions and habits, thus are able to sleep properly.

5.  Leg strength increase: Many patients tend to have an increase in their leg strength as one side of the hip tends to become very weak due to bone problems before surgery. After surgery and recovery, the same side tends to have an increased strength due to the implant.

6. In most cases a lifelong solution to hip problems: As the hip replacement prosthesis is made out of metal and if the operation is successful, it usually tends to last till the end of a person's life and this area usually doesn't tend to have problems again.

Benefits of Hip Replacement Surgery

It is normal and alright to feel pain in the knees occasionally after a physical activity or prolonged walking. However, it is a serious cause of concern if the pain is experienced every now and then. Not responding to your knee pain for long can lead to the extreme disability. Knee pain does not crop up in a day and it may surprise you when it first appears. 

Initially, you may notice slight pain and discomfort. If you have identified knee pain at this level, managing it is easy. You can perform different exercises to prevent pain from occurring. If the pain severe, you need to go consult a doctor, who will then help identify the real cause of pain. The following exercises, along with medications, can help you overcome knee pain and restore the mobility of the joint.

Stair Step ups: Choose a comfortable stairway. Place your hand on the wall or banister. This is to ensure that you are balanced. Your left foot should be on the taller step. Your right foot should be on the ground. Stay in this posture for a second. Now, step back, and bring left foot to the right foot. Repeat this 6 times. Reverse the legs and continue doing for 6 times. If you want to take rest between the steps, feel free to do so.
Ups and Downs: You need an armless chair that is strong. Sit on the edge but comfortably. Your arms should be at your side, relaxed and loose. Sit erect and your feet should be flat. If you feel you need balance, and then cross your arms. Start standing up. This should not be instant but deliberate, controlled, and gradual movement. Stand slowly up to the full height, and hold on for 2 seconds. Again sit down. Repeat this 5 times.
Straight Leg Raise: This can be a part of your everyday exercise regime. This is a strengthening workout that does not put too much effort on the knees. Lie down on your back. One leg should be straight on the ground and the other one should be bent. Now, slowly lift the leg that is straight, and the toes should point upward. Raise your leg up to 30 degrees, but you can start with 15 to 20 degrees in the initial stage. Repeat 15 times and perform at least 3 sets of this exercise. Keep alternating legs. This workout strengthens the knees, thigh muscles, and the ankle joints, thus offering multifold benefits.
Wall Hamstring Stretch: Hamstring muscles too can be the cause of knee pain and discomfort. To strengthen the hamstring muscles and alleviate knee pain, this exercise helps a lot. Lie down on the floor flat. Your feet should be flexed. Choose a space that is close to a wall, or a sturdy table. Your right leg should be propped on the wall or table. If you don t prefer any, a resistance band is a good alternative. When stretching, you can find your flexibility level and when you feel that you have reached the deepest point, start relaxing. Keep alternating contracting and relaxing every 5 seconds. After 10 to 15 sets, you can try the same with the left leg.
Knee Rolls: Use an exercise mat or a carpet that is cozy. Lie on your back. Bend the knees, and ensure your feet are flat. Your arms should be stretched on the sides. Look at the ceiling, and hold the knees together. In the same posture, slowly roll the knees towards the right. When you feel a gentle twitch or after 5 seconds, move to original position. Then lower the knees to the left. Hold and release. For each side, repeat 10 times.
These exercises strengthen the knees and improve the quality of life by bidding bye to the pain. Understanding that these are magic remedies that work overnight is the key to stay focused and keep going without quitting.

Exercises That Can Help Relieve Knee Pain!

Muscle sprains and ligament tears are one of the most common injuries that medical practitioners encounter on a regular basis. These injuries are painful and can also limit one s movement, needless to say. However, there are simple things that can be done as soon as the injury happens so that the impact of the injury can be reduced, the symptoms minimised, and recovery improved.

A sprain is a tear of the ligament. The ligament is responsible for connecting the tissue strands that connect the bone to the muscle. When this sprain affects the muscle or even the tendon, it is known as a strain.
Sprains are very common and can occur due to a fall, twist, or impact. Most commonly affected areas are the ankles and wrists. Sprains happen when there is a pull or a twist of the ankle or the joint. This is very common in athletes and can be caused by repetitive motions in the knees, wrists, elbows, etc.

The most common symptom is pain, swelling, limited movement, and sometimes bruising. The degree of these injuries depends on its severity. The most common ways to treat such injuries are as follows.

RICE therapy: RICE is an acronym for rest, ice, compress, and elevate. Rest the affected area immediately by stopping any further activity. Ice the area using an ice wrap, with the ice cubes wrapped in a towel or a cotton cloth. Repeat this exercise if possible for every 20 minutes. This will reduce the swelling and pain. Compress the area using a sling or a wrap. This will help in reducing the swelling. Elevate the affected area if possible above the heart. This will help control the blood flow and thereby reduce the swelling and pain.
Pain control: If there is pain that needs medication, go for the non-steroidal drugs like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If it is a child that is injured, it is advisable to give non-aspirin ones.
Seek professional help: Most sprains can be self-limiting over a couple of days. However, it is advisable to seek medical help if there is significant pain, swelling, or numbness, open wounds or bruises, or inability to move the joint.
The doctor may decide to do the following.

Scanning or imaging to rule out any internal hard/soft tissue injury like fracture or tear
Immobilise the joint with a splint or a cast
Start physical therapy if there is severe pain and immobility
Surgical repair if there is a ligament injury
A word of caution to athletes or people who are very active physically is to go easy on the joint. In an eagerness to quickly get back to their routine, more and severe damage may be caused. This can be avoided by allowing time for complete healing.

Muscle & Ligament Sprain - Tips To Help You Deal With It!

Inflammation and resultant pain in the joints are usually the basic tenets of arthritis. This joint disorder can be painful and often, a debilitating one. It can also make the joints stiff. There are many ways of dealing with this problem, but with ayurveda, one can get to the root cause of the ailment and its presence. This helps in taking a well rounded holistic approach towards treating it with ancient know how that revolves around herbs and other natural substances which have great medicinal value, lifestyle changes, diet, exercise and yoga, oil massages, and other methods. Arthritis is known as sandhivata in ayurvedic jargon. Read on to find out how ayurveda can help in dealing with arthritis.

Herbs: one can make use of various herbs that contain linoleic acid to help in providing lubrication to the joints so as to prevent pain and stiffness. These herbs include borage seed oil which is extracted from borage seed, evening primrose oil, blackcurrant seed oil, capsaicin, curcumin, feverfew, flaxseed oil and a standard ayurvedic concoction that combines ashwagandha, gugulla, ginger, cumin and haldi or turmeric. These substances can help in treating the joints that are suffering from the pain of arthritis.

Diet: in ayurveda, to treat ailments like arthritis, it is usually recommended that a patient should start by flushing out the body toxins from within. Diet is one of the ways in which this can be done. A detoxification diet to clean the colon would be one of the foremost ways of doing a cleanse. Further, in one's daily diet, there should be a good dose of vegetables, fruits and other juices. Also, one must have plenty of herbs and spices, which can be used to season the food. Curd should generally be avoided and garlic should be used liberally. The various properties that help in an inside out cleanse that will help the system function in a better manner so that the treatment of ailments is also effectively supported.

Exercise: in ayurveda, a certain amount of daily exercise, which spans at least 45 minutes to one hour, is a must. A pattern of healthy eating, restful sleep and exercise is what usually helps in treating ailments like arthritis. For this ailment specifically, light exercise like walking is recommended. Various yoga asanas that involve sitting, standing, balancing and lying down poses as well as restful poses will also help in treating knee, shoulder and lower back pain specifically. Also, mustard oil massages can help in reducing the pain.
These are the few ways in which ayurveda can help arthritis patients live a more normal life with minimal pain.

Ayurveda For Arthritis

The most common cause of neck pain can be cervical disc disease. It is generally caused by the abnormality of the disc that is the cushion present between the vertebrae. The disc can get damaged because of arthritis or any unknown cause. When damaged, it usually leads to inflammation or spasm of the muscles leading to neck pain. There are a number of pain medications, traction exercises, and physical therapy for minimizing the neck pain. However, these home based remedies help in relieving pain along with a speedy recovery:

*  Take it easy: If you have a busy and hectic life, then take it easy. Living with cervical disc diseases can lead to an increase in the neck pain; thus cutting down on activities helps. A comfortable position should be observed while resting. If need be then a pillow can be placed under the neck.

*   Apply Cold/Heat Pack: There is always a confusion regarding whether a cold or a hot pack is to be used. The recommendation is to use ice or cold pack for the first 24 to 48 hours of the injury, so that the swelling subsides. This should then be followed by hot fermentation in order to improve the muscle stiffness and also loosen them. But in case of a cervical disc disease neither cold nor heat penetrates the tissue to relieve inflammation, so it is best to use the one which feels better. Whichever, pack is chosen it should only be used for 20 minutes and then left for 40 minutes. Take care and do not use ice or heat directly against the skin. 

*  Stretch: Stretching exercises should be done in order to improve the flexibility and relieve pain in the neck. Exercises can be performed after warming up of the muscles by a warm towel or bath. Here are a few simple stretches for cervical disc disease that you can do at home:

* Move the neck: As per the study by the American Medical Association, women who had neck pain got relief when they did exercises using light weight and resistance bands. This increased their endurance and strength of the neck muscles. Also, 30 minutes of exercise in the form of biking, walking, swimming, and biking is recommended to improve the blood flow.

*  Maintain the posture of the neck: A bad posture can cause a neck pain. Every time while standing, sitting, walking, lifting the posture should be kept in mind. The head and neck should be kept straight and the back should be supported in order to avoid neck pains.

Neck Pain and How To Deal With It

Knee pain is a common phenomenon that plagues most of the people irrespective of their age. It can be the outcome of a torn cartilage or a ruptured ligament. Medical complications, such as infections, gout or arthritis (painful inflammation and stiffness of the joints) can also give way to knee pain. Minor knee pain can be eased by self-care remedies such as physical therapy or by putting on knee braces. However, few complications might demand surgical repair. Pain can be managed by the pain management specialists.

Tips to manage knee pain

1. Medications such as naproxen, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can be administered to help remedy knee pain.
2. You can seek relief by massaging your knees with ointments constituting of a number of agents such as capsaicin or lidocaine.
3. Keep away from your usual chores to prevent repetitive strains on the knees, thus, allowing the injury to heal as well as to stay safe from further damage.
4. Applying an ice pack in a towel can ease the inflammation and pain. But do not extend its usage for more than 20 minutes because that might harm the skin and nerves.
5. Compression bandages can inhibit fluid accumulation in the damaged tissues aiding knee alignment stability. Ensure that it is tight enough to render support to your knees without actually obstructing blood circulation.
6. To pacify the swelling, try resting your sore leg on a pillow (the idea here is to keep the affected leg elevated to reduce further pain).
7. Shed off your extra pounds as being overweight increases chances of other disorders such as osteoarthritis.
8. Go for regular work outs to enhance and maintain the flexibility of your muscles as excessively weak or abnormally tight muscles can contribute to injuries. Be smart while choosing your method of exercise based on the condition you are suffering from.

Knee Pain - 8 Effective Ways to Manage it

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