[The Answer Lies in the Body’s Natural Healing Power] On a cold morning, if your joints suddenly won’t straighten... it could be a sign of rheumatoid arthritis

[Financial News] On a winter morning when temperatures have plunged, the moment you try to get out of bed, your knee won’t cooperate. You try to straighten your leg, but it holds firm like a rusty hinge, and even your back is hard to straighten. You turn to reach for your phone, but your fingers are so stiff they feel like wooden blocks. Only after fidgeting for a while does your body finally loosen up. If mornings like this have become routine for you as a senior, it may be time to check on your joints rather than simply blame it on age.
The medical term for joints becoming stiff and movement slowing after waking is “morning stiffness.” It is less a disease in itself than a symptom common to various musculoskeletal conditions. Joints that have barely moved during sleep can feel stiff when you start using them again in the morning. Winter cold can also make muscles, tendons and ligaments tense up, while reduced outdoor activity can further intensify the feeling of stiff joints.
Knee osteoarthritis, common among seniors, is one of the main conditions that can cause morning stiffness. Changes in the bones and tissues around the joints, as well as in the cartilage, can lead to pain, stiffness and limited movement.
In addition, if morning stiffness lasts a long time or several joints—including the fingers and wrists—become swollen, warm and painful, inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis should be considered. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s healthy joint tissue. The two conditions cannot be distinguished by the duration of stiffness alone. If symptoms recur, it is a good idea to note when and where swelling occurs and how long the stiffness lasts, and to seek medical attention.
If you are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, treatment to control inflammation and prevent joint damage should begin early. Conventional medicine generally uses anti-inflammatory painkillers along with antirheumatic drugs, including immunosuppressants, as the basis of treatment.
Even while medication is being used to control inflammation, the joint pain and stiffness that return each morning may not go away easily, making daily life difficult for patients. In such cases, integrative Korean medicine treatment may also be an option. Korean medicine focuses on relieving joint pain and restoring everyday movement, using treatments such as pharmacopuncture and herbal medicine. Pharmacopuncture involves injecting medicine extracted and purified from herbal ingredients into acupuncture points or other areas, while herbal medicine is prescribed based on the patient’s symptoms and overall condition. A treatment plan is developed after considering together the location of swollen and painful joints, how long morning stiffness lasts and the degree of movement limitation.
According to a case report on a patient with rheumatoid arthritis published by Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine, medical staff treated a patient who reported pain in the fingers, wrists and knees, along with morning stiffness, using Shinbaro pharmacopuncture and herbal medicine, including Daeganghwal-tang. The patient’s pain score, measured on a scale of 0 to 10, fell from 7 before treatment to 3 about a month later. Morning stiffness had also disappeared by the 58th day of treatment.
Daily self-care should also support treatment. In particular, how you spend the morning, when your joints are stiffest, matters. Rather than getting up abruptly as soon as you wake, it is better to gently wake your joints one at a time while still lying down. Slowly make a fist and open your hand, gently rotate your wrists and ankles, then bend and straighten your arms and legs within a comfortable range.

Avoid jerking your body or forcing a stretch in a painful area. Once your body has loosened up somewhat, sit on the edge of the bed, take a moment to steady your breathing, then stand up slowly. On the other hand, if you move too little out of fear of pain, the muscles that support your joints may weaken, potentially making stiffness worse. During the day, keep moving regularly with light walks or stretches without overexerting yourself. Keep your home warm, and when going outside, take care to stay warm with gloves, a scarf and other layers.
Just as a rusty hinge can move smoothly again when it is oiled and opened and closed slowly, our joints can help us face winter mornings with greater ease if we look after them in time and use them gently. Don’t dismiss recurring morning stiffness as simply a consequence of age. Listen to the signals your joints are sending and consider appropriate medical care and self-management.
/Mokdong Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine Director Choi Woo-sung 




[email protected] Jeong Myeong-jin, Medical Correspondent Reporter