Although there are over one hundred different types of arthritis, the affliction that causes severe pain in your joints and muscles, the three most common types are osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. Although arthritis is a painful and often debilitating disease, you can minimize the effects of this pain by taking care of the joints themselves.

For most patients suffering from arthritis joint pain, living with this kind of condition means a life-long task punctuated with nothing but agony. However, this does not have to be the case with you. While it is true that most forms of arthritis are irreversible (as it is impossible to grow back a cartilage), there are steps that you can take in order to minimize the pain that is usually associated with this debilitating disease.

Age also causes toxic waste circulation in the blood. Moreover, dead cells and liquid accumulates in the various joints and causes inflammation and pain. If inflammation continues it causes damage to your joints. Sometimes, the cartilage coating on the bone ends wears down and the joints rub, bone to bone causing extreme pain.

Organizations like the Mayo Clinic also advise that you are more cautionary when going about your everyday business, and this in turn will protect your joints. For instance, they suggest:

Use your strongest joint and reduce the burden on your weaker joints. Try to carry things with your palm open, for instance. It will distribute the weight equally over your forearm. Don't lift things off the counter or workbench; just slide them along the surface.

Protect your little finger more. An example of this would be to brush crumbs on a worktop or table TOWARDS you, as opposed to away from you. This stops undue stress being placed on the weakest finger on your hand.

Don't make a tight fist for too long. Also don't hold things for too long. The idea is not to stress your thumb and fingers. So, instead of holding things with your fingers try to hold a book, mug, or other things in the palm of your hand. If you've been reading a book for some time, use a book holder instead of continually supporting the book with your fingers.

Continuously exercise the affected joints. Stiffness will soon set in permanently if you don't keep moving the digits and joints that are causing the problem, so take the time to set aside a portion of the day where you can simply move the joints and keep them supple.

Learn to understand arthritis joint pain. Of course, if you have arthritis, it is most likely that you will experience arthritis joint pain. However, try to distinguish between arthritis joint pain and pain that results from overusing a joint. When you are able to do this, you can determine what specific activity that caused you joint pain and avoid doing it in the future.