Meditation for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis has a long history of causing chronic pain, discomfort, and joint stiffness that can often be paralyzing and detrimental. This lack of fluidity in motion combined with chronic pain can also be mentally daunting. The physical and emotional effects of Osteoarthritis are what make it one of the most troubling diseases and most difficult to treat. While mainstream methods like medication and physical therapy are the primary care plan for Osteoarthritis, more alternative forms of medication are starting to take form. One alternative treatment that can help Osteoarthritis sufferers both physically and mentally is meditation.

Meditation is an ancient form of therapy that allows you to focus on your senses and use your thought processes to address whatever it is that needs addressing. In the case of Osteoarthritis, this can come in the form of addressing pain and symptom management of the disease. By using medication to treat Osteoarthritis, sufferers are given the opportunity to confront the pain and characterize it – sharp and shooting, dull and achy, where exactly it is located, and how it transpires.

Being able to hone in on the specifics of the pain, allow a person to focus or meditate intensely on the specifics of the symptoms. Under the principles of meditation, this extreme focus allows you to concentrate on the origin of the pain, confront it, and ultimately lessen the intensity of it with sheer mental will. The theory of pain management from meditation draws from the idea that pain is a brain response to injury or disease, that it physically only exists within our mental reaction.

Meditation takes time to master, but simple breathing techniques and localized meditation can provide – at minimum – a calming environment that may help with the emotional effects that osteoarthritis has on a person. With some patience, it may even help provide a coping measure for the physical pain associated with the disease.