Arthritis Living With How to Prevent an Arthritis Flare By Carol Eustice Carol Eustice Facebook Carol Eustice is a writer covering arthritis and chronic illness, who herself has been diagnosed with both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Learn about our editorial process Updated on October 10, 2022 Medically reviewed by Stella Bard, MD Medically reviewed by Stella Bard, MD LinkedIn Stella Bard, MD, is a board-certified Internist, specializing in rheumatology in Brooklyn, New York, and McKinney, Texas. Learn about our Medical Expert Board Print Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Stick With Treatments Pace Yourself Protect Your Joints Reduce Stress Get Enough Sleep Avoid Trigger Foods When you have arthritis, it pays to do what you can to avoid arthritis flares (times when symptoms are significantly worse). While flares can be managed, the best course of action is to try to prevent them. The following tips don't guarantee you'll never have another flare. However, they're practical steps that can lead to fewer flare-ups. This article explains six day-to-day strategies for keeping arthritis flares at bay. Jub Rubjob / Getty Images Stick With Treatments Once your healthcare provider has established a treatment regimen for you, stick with the plan. Don't skip your medications or other treatments. Treatments are important for keeping inflammation and pain under control. Skipping doses allows them to increase and can lead to a flare. Arthritis is kind of like the embers of a fire, smoldering and looking for an opportunity to re-ignite. Don't give it that opportunity. From Helpful to Harmful Inflammation is supposed to be a helpful part of the body's response to injury or illness. However, when inflammation—and the pain it causes—becomes chronic, it's no longer helpful and starts causing harm. Pace Yourself Research on both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis suggests exercise is important. It helps maintain your strength, flexibility, and range of motion. At the same time, it is important not to overdo it on exercise or other activities. Overdoing it and ignoring your physical limitations can provoke a flare. Try alternating short periods of activity with rest. Also, vary your activities. For example, don't fold a whole load of socks in one sitting. Fold for a while, then do something that allows your hands and arms to rest. The desire to not be held back by arthritis makes pacing hard. Find a balance that keeps you moving at a reasonable pace without wearing yourself out. Exercise Safely When You Have Arthritis Protect Your Joints While exercising or just going about your daily activities, it's important that you don't stress your joints—especially the ones already affected by arthritis. The basics of joint protection include: Avoid/modify pain-causing activity: If something causes pain while you're doing it, either don't do it or find another way to get it done. Two-hour rule: Not everything causes immediate pain. If your arthritis pain is increased two hours after an activity, avoid that activity or do less next time. Use assistive devices: Jar openers, shower seats, canes, raised toilet seats, grabbers, and dressing aids can all be helpful. If you're struggling with joint protection, ask your healthcare provider if a physical therapist or occupational therapist could help. Protecting Your Joints Reduce Stress Stress can increase arthritis symptoms, and lowering it can help you avoid flares. You can't avoid stress completely—sometimes it's beyond your control (e.g., death of a loved one, losing a job, divorce). At other times, you have more control over your stress levels. You may be able to reduce your stress levels by: Learning to say "no"Simplifying your lifeGetting organizedConserving energyDeveloping an attitude of acceptance These steps aren't always easy. If you're having trouble with stress management, talk to your healthcare provider. They may refer you to a therapist who can help. Four Stress Management Tips for Relief Get Enough Sleep Getting a decent amount of sleep is important. You need more rest and recovery time than someone who does not have arthritis. Disrupted sleep, especially on a regular basis, seems to increase pain and the risk of flares. This can be tough to get a handle on because it can be a vicious cycle: Arthritis pain disrupts your sleepLack of sleep makes arthritis pain worseRepeat If you're caught in this cycle and can't break it on your own, talk to your healthcare provider about options for better pain control. You may also benefit from sleep aids. How Much Sleep Do You Need? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Sleep Problems With Arthritis Avoid Trigger Foods The effect of diet on arthritis has been disputed for years. Some claim there is no direct effect, while others believe certain foods increase inflammation and make arthritis symptoms worse. What's clear is that there's no one-diet-fits-all approach for arthritis. You may want to experiment with an elimination diet or anti-inflammatory diet to see if it works for you. If you find certain foods make your arthritis worse, steer clear. Anti-Inflammatory Diet: What to Eat Summary You may be able to avoid arthritis flares with simple strategies such as sticking with your treatment plan, pacing yourself, protecting your joints, managing stress, getting enough sleep, and avoiding problem foods. A Word From Verywell When you're getting started with managing arthritis, it can seem overwhelming. To make it more approachable, just take one change at a time. See how much it helps, then move on to the next. While following these strategies may make arthritis flares fewer and farther between, they're not a cure. You'll probably still have to manage a flare now and then. Managing Arthritis Flares 9 Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Bykerk VP, Bingham CO, Choy EH, et al. Identifying flares in rheumatoid arthritis: reliability and construct validation of the OMERACT RA Flare Core Domain Set. RMD Open. 2016;2(1):e000225. doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2015-000225 Bennett JM, Reeves G, Billman GE, Sturmberg JP. Inflammation–nature’s way to efficiently respond to all types of challenges: implications for understanding and managing “the epidemic” of chronic diseases. Front Med. 2018;5. doi:10.3389/fmed.2018.00316 Arthritis Foundation. Benefits of exercise for osteoarthritis. Arthritis Foundation. Best exercises for rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Foundation. What triggers an arthritis flare?. Yılmaz V, Umay E, Gündoğdu İ, Karaahmet ZÖ, Öztürk AE. Rheumatoid arthritis: Are psychological factors effective in disease flare?. Eur J Rheumatol. 2017;4(2):127-132. doi:10.5152/eurjrheum.2017.16100 Grabovac I, Haider S, Berner C, et al. Sleep quality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and associations with pain, disability, disease duration, and activity. J Clin Med. 2018;7(10):336. doi:10.3390/jcm7100336 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How much sleep do I need?. Skoczyńska M, Świerkot J. The role of diet in rheumatoid arthritis. Reumatologia. 2018;56(4):259-267. doi:10.5114/reum.2018.77979 By Carol Eustice Carol Eustice is a writer covering arthritis and chronic illness, who herself has been diagnosed with both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Medical Expert Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit