Hey Everybody! It’s Karen from Wellness Works NW. Its ok when you’re not feeling ok, I mean we are getting older, but when your kids don’t feel ok, you’ve got a problem. You can almost feel their pain. When you think of arthritis, we usually think of an old person’s disease but that is not true. Did you know that over 300,000 kids have Juvenile Arthritis in America. I didn’t know that at all, before now. That is a lot of kids. Think about that. To be a kid and have this can be debilitating.
I want to make sure that I brought this to your attention so that if your kid has arthritis you know what to do, because you probably don’t know what you would do if your child had juvenile arthritis. Arthritis is inflammation of the joints and that is super painful. If your child is diagnosed with juvenile arthritis there are things you can do to help. First, you must realize that your child may become very emotional because they are in so much pain and most kids can play and have fun and it might take a child with juvenile arthritis more time to get around because they are in pain. Second, there are all kinds of medications that children can take to help them control their pain, some will work better than others. Third, arthritis can show up in several ways in people, like fibromyalgia, lupus, mitosis, scleroderma and vasculitis. All these diseases are super painful.
One of the best things you can do for your kids is to be mindful of diet. You want to make sure your child is on a diet that is an anti-inflammatory diet. We have been talking about the Mediterranean Diet, which is a great option for people with chronic illness. You will have emotional difficulties because it is the pits when you can’t move around like you want to. I would like to encourage you to play soft music that will help your child relax. You also want to make sure you talk to them a lot, maybe give them more attention so they know you care about what they are going through. Maybe work on a hobby or puzzles to help with range of motion.
Weight bearing exercises are important for people with arthritis. A lot of time children will have arthritis in their hands which can be very irritating. It is very important to get your child to the doctor if you think that they are suffering. Diagnosis is important so you can begin helping your child feel better and have less permanent damage to their joints. Keep in mind that juvenile arthritis is an autoimmune disorder, this means that that immune system is fighting healthy cells. So you want to help them through all of this.
Exercise is very important. Stretching is important for you but it is super important for children with juvenile arthritis. You have to keep those joints moving so they don’t get sticky and cause more pain. Today I am going to show us some hand stretches to help keep joints moving and reduce inflammation. It is not the end of the world if you child has juvenile arthritis, but exercise is going to vital so that your child will have less pain. Range of motion is super important because they will continue to get better at movement. You want to make sure that you are moving slowly so you don’t cause any trauma. Make sure to do this with your child because this will make exercise that might be more painful, more fun if you are working out with them.
If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email at karen@wellnessworksnw.com or you can call or text me at 360-447-8061 and we can talk about your success! I can’t wait to hear from you!
I am sending positive vibes and positive prayers. See you soon!
#KeepMoving #WellnessWorks #WootWoot
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Karen G. Clemenson is not a doctor or a scientist. She is a real person that eats too much sometimes and misses her workout on occasion but is mindful of her path toward wellness, all the time.
Karen understands that your physical wellness does not begin and end with your membership to a local gym. She knows that weight loss management begins with steps; some small and some large. These steps include diet, physical activity and retraining of the thoughts and habits that keep you from being successful on your path toward wellness.
