“At the heart of the problem is prolonged joint inactivity, something that’s unavoidable while you’re asleep,” says John M. Davis III, MD, a rheumatologist and a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Your body’s natural circadian rhythms, which can cause a nighttime surge of inflammatory cells that can trigger early-morning joint inflammation, are also to blame. Although starting your day can be slow going if you’re troubled by morning stiffness from RA, there are steps you can take — some before you even get out of bed — to wake up your joints and face the day.
Helpful Hints for Your Morning Routine
According to Dr. Davis, some people who have RA describe morning stiffness as a feeling of being trapped in a 90-year-old body or a freezing or locking up of their joints. “Stiffness makes performing the simplest of morning tasks more difficult and often dictates the morning routine,” he says. Morning stiffness was a major problem for Jessica Gottlieb, a mom with RA. Getting herself and her kids up and ready in the morning was tough, so she enlisted help. “I set up a carpool with a neighbor,” she says. “She drove the kids to school in the morning and I did afternoon pick-ups. This way, when I got out of bed, all I had to do was supervise breakfast and get the kids out the door.” Gottlieb also suggests using evenings to prepare for the next day to ease some of the morning rush-hour strain. She makes lunches, loads school bags, and places her own essentials right by the door. She also takes steps to conserve energy whenever possible. “If I don’t need to go anywhere in the morning, I don’t get dressed with the kids,” she says. “If I have somewhere to be, I try to be showered and dressed before I wake them up.”
1. Set an early alarm.
Gottlieb adjusts her thermostat to kick up the heat about 30 minutes before she needs to get going in the morning; she sets her alarm for that time, too. That half-hour allows time for her joints to warm up before she has to get moving.
2. Take your medication right after you wake up.
If you take medication to manage RA symptoms, take the morning dose as soon as possible after waking up, advises Davis. Keep your medication and some water on your nightstand so you don’t even have to get out of bed first.
3. Warm up your joints.
Heating pads or a hot shower can help provide a soothing start to your morning and ease stiffness, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Gottlieb keeps her medication and other essentials within arm’s reach on her nightstand: a heating pad, warm socks, mittens, and a book to read while she’s loosening up her joints in bed. Before getting up to take her morning shower, she uses the heating pad and puts on the mittens and socks to warm up. “My feet feel like my bones are made of glass in the morning,” she says, “but if they’re warm, I’m better off.”
4. Incorporate gentle movements.
Start your morning by performing some gentle range-of-motion exercises to stretch and loosen your hands, wrists, feet, and any joints especially bothered by morning stiffness.
5. Experiment with adaptive devices.
To ease the strain on painful hands, try using adaptive devices like wide-gripped utensils to help you prepare and eat breakfast.
6. Ease into the day.
Don’t push yourself at the start of your day. “Pacing activities or breaking up tasks in the morning can help with getting things done in a more tolerable way,” Davis says. All in all, working with your doctor is the most important component — he or she can help you find the appropriate medications to get RA under control and help you find ways to ease morning stiffness. Additional reporting by Erica Patino.
