How to reduce inflammation and pain: 9 healthy tips

Remember the last time you were startled by a smoke detector or fire alarm? Alarms are loud and impossible to ignore for a reason. They get your attention so you protect yourself by checking for fire or moving to safety. Inflammation is your body’s alarm system and an important part of your protective healing response. 

But when inflammation lasts longer than it should — when the alarm doesn’t ever shut off — it can contribute to persistent pain. This means that lowering levels of chronic inflammation can also help reduce chronic pain, and be an important part of the healthy lifestyle steps you follow to manage your pain levels and stay healthy overall.

Here, learn more about the role of inflammation in your pain and what you can do to manage it, from our Hinge Health physical therapists.

What is inflammation? 

Inflammation is your body’s way of protecting you from infection, injury, or illness. Like an emergency responder rushing to the scene of an accident, your immune system sends special cells to the site of an injury to start the healing process. This is what causes that telltale redness, warmth, and swelling where you hurt. This is a good thing: It’s what helps your body fight off the infection or recover from the injury.

But the chemicals and extra fluid in the area can irritate it and lead to pain. Inflammation can also cause temporary symptoms like redness, warmth, stiffness, reduced mobility, and muscle weakness. These are all your body’s not-so-subtle clues to make sure you protect the injured or ill area.

When inflammation doesn’t go away

Short-term, or acute, inflammation is a healthy part of your body’s internal repair process and it typically lasts a few days or weeks. Sometimes, though, inflammation persists at lower levels in the body — this is when it becomes chronic. It can cause all kinds of health problems, including joint pain and stiffness. Certain types of arthritis and autoimmune conditions are due to chronic inflammation that results from your body continuing to “sound an alarm” against its own tissues.

Inflammation can also become chronic after an injury, infection, or continuing exposure to irritants. An inflammatory diet, smoking, alcohol use, obesity, and stress can also contribute to chronic inflammation. Symptoms of chronic inflammation are much more subtle than those of acute inflammation (redness and swelling at an infection site — like a bug bite). Most people don’t recognize that these signs are related to inflammation because they can also be related to many other conditions or issues:

• General body pain

• Fatigue

• Poor sleep

• Depression and anxiety

• Weight gain or loss

• Diarrhea or constipation

• Frequent infections

Like a fire alarm that won’t turn off, ongoing inflammation keeps your body in a state of high alert. Over time, high levels of inflammatory chemicals increase your blood sugar levels, affect your mood, and disrupt digestion. This can raise your risk of chronic issues like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, and other diseases. Studies also show that inflammation, stress, and pain can compound one another in an ongoing cycle.

How to treat acute inflammation 

There are different ways to treat acute and chronic inflammation. For pain related to acute inflammation — say, an injury to your ankle or wrist — try these:

1. Apply ice. Ice reduces swelling and pain from inflammation by restricting blood flow to an area. How often to use ice can depend on your injury and pain levels, but as general guidance, you could ice the inflamed area three to four times per day for 10-20 minutes at a time. Be sure to wrap an ice pack in a light layer of fabric for comfort and to protect your skin. 

2. Use compression to help reduce inflammatory swelling and prevent blood clots. You can find inexpensive elastic bandages for compression at most pharmacies. Do not wrap so tightly that you cut off circulation to the area. 

3. Elevate the affected area. Elevation reduces swelling by using gravity to pull fluid away from an inflamed area — especially if you are able to elevate it above your heart. 

4. Try NSAIDs for additional relief. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) pain relievers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) can be helpful for relieving pain related to inflammation. It’s important to make sure that you are safely able to take these medications, based on your medical history.

How to reduce chronic inflammation

When it comes to chronic inflammation, general healthy habits and lifestyle changes play a big role. The good news here is that many of the same things you do for an overall healthy lifestyle — get good sleep, manage stress, eat nutritious foods — are also good for reducing chronic inflammation.

5. Move your body. Physical activity reduces inflammation. And you don’t need to spend hours at the gym to get the benefit. Just 20 minutes of moderate activity like brisk walking has measurable anti-inflammatory effects. Movement — both overall physical activity and doing targeted exercise therapy, like Hinge Health sessions — is also one of the best things you can do regularly to relieve and prevent persistent pain.

6. Aim for a healthy sleep routine. For most people, seven or more hours of overnight sleep promotes healing and counteracts inflammation. When you get quality sleep, you tend to have less pain. Check out these simple tips for improving your sleep.

7. Eat nutritious foods. Certain foods are considered pro-inflammatory and can raise levels of inflammation in the body (and contribute to health problems and joint pain). Other foods are anti-inflammatory—eating more of these can lower inflammation, reduce pain, and promote overall health. 

Anti-inflammatory foods are primarily whole foods. They include:

• Vegetables

• Fruits

• Beans and legumes

• Nuts and seeds

• Spices

• Fatty fish

• Dark chocolate

• Tea

For the inflammatory foods below, there’s no need to avoid them completely, but be mindful of your consumption:

• Fast and fried foods

• Processed meats

• Refined carbohydrates

• Refined vegetable oils

• Added sugars

8. Reduce stress. Stress is a part of life. You can’t eliminate it, but you can pay attention to times when you feel more stress than usual, and work on using stress-relieving coping strategies to build resilience and keep your nervous system calm. Studies show that people who practice relaxation techniques like meditation, yoga, or breathing exercises have lower levels of stress hormones and inflammatory chemicals in their blood. 

9. Adjust your intake of anti-inflammatory medication. NSAID medications, such as ibuprofen, inhibit the body’s inflammatory response. Some experts call for avoiding over-the-counter pain medications. This is due to emerging research that shows it may be better to allow inflammation after injury because it’s part of the body’s healing process.

However, we know that these pain medications are helpful — and many doctors and guidelines utilize them. This can be a little confusing. If anti-inflammatory pain meds can help relieve your discomfort such that it’s easier for you to move, sleep, work, and do other daily activities that promote healing, then it’s probably fine to take them in limited amounts as needed. 

But try to keep in mind that they’re just one part of an overall recovery plan. Drugs like ibuprofen work to stop the inflammatory response in your body, but this inflammation can also be helpful for healing. In fact, research suggests that these medicines may impair tissue healing, especially if they’re used at high doses. If you’re in a lot of pain, talk to your doctor before using them.

How Hinge Health can help you

If you have joint or muscle pain that makes it hard to move, you can get the relief you’ve been looking for with Hinge Health’s online exercise therapy program.

The best part: You don’t have to leave your home because our program is digital. That means you can easily get the care you need through our app when and where it works for you.

Through our program, you’ll have access to therapeutic exercises and stretches for your condition. Additionally, you’ll have a personal care team to guide, support, and tailor our program to you.

See if you qualify for Hinge Health and confirm free coverage through your employer or benefit plan here.

This article and its contents are provided for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice or professional services specific to you or your medical condition.

References 

1. WebMD. (2020, October 15). Inflammation: Definition, diseases, types, and treatment. WebMD. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/about-inflammation 

2. Santos-Longhurst, A. (2021, August 20). Understanding and Managing Chronic Inflammation. Healthline. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-inflammation#causes 

3. Elisia, I., Lam, V., Cho, B., Hay, M., Li, M. Y., Yeung, M., Bu, L., Jia, W., Norton, N., Lam, S., & Krystal, G. (2020, November 10). The effect of smoking on chronic inflammation, immune function and blood cell composition. Nature News. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76556-7 

4. Ellulu, M. S., Patimah, I., Khaza'ai, H., Rahmat, A., & Abed, Y. (2016, March 31). Obesity and inflammation: The linking mechanism and the complications. Archives of medical science : AMS. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507106/ 

5. Wang, H. J., Zakhari, S., & Jung, M. K. (2010, March 21). Alcohol, inflammation, and gut-liver-brain interactions in tissue damage and disease development. World journal of gastroenterology. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842521/ 

6. Liu, Y.-Z., Wang, Y.-X., & Jiang, C.-L. (2017, June 20). Inflammation: The common pathway of stress-related diseases. Frontiers in human neuroscience. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5476783/ 

7. Pahwa, R., Jialal, I., Bansal, P., & Goyal, A. (2021, September 28). Chronic inflammation. StatPearls [Internet]. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/ 

8. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, July 8). Chronic stress puts your health at risk. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046 037 

9. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, August 13). How to use food to help your body fight inflammation. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/how-to use-food-to-help-your-body-fight-inflammation/art-20457586 

10. Hannibal, K. E., & Bishop, M. D. (2014, July 17). Chronic stress, cortisol dysfunction, and pain: A psychoneuroendocrine rationale for stress management in pain rehabilitation. Physical therapy. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263906/ 

11. Physiopedia. (n.d.). Neurogenic inflammation in musculoskeletal condition. Physiopedia. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.physio-pedia.com/Neurogenic_inflammation_in_Musculoskeletal_Condition

12. Dmitrov, S., & Hulteng, E. (2017, January 12). Exercise ... it does a body good: 20 minutes can act as anti-inflammatory. EurekAlert! Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/758298 

13. Finan, P. H., Goodin, B. R., & Smith, M. T. (2014, December 1). The Association of Sleep and pain: An update and a path forward. The journal of pain. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4046588/ 

14. Rosenkranz, M. A., Lutz, A., Perlman, D. M., Bachhuber, D. R. W., Schuyler, B. S., MacCoon, D. G., & Davidson, R. J. (2016, February 20). Reduced stress and inflammatory responsiveness in experienced meditators compared to a matched healthy control group. Psychoneuroendocrinology. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851883/