This article will help you to find the best places to live in the US if you have rheumatoid arthritis. People who are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis have only one wish, to get better and relieve themselves from pain. The best way to battle the symptoms of this chronic illness is by keeping yourself active and visiting rheumatologists on a regular basis. That’s why rheumatoid arthritis patients need to be very careful when choosing the place to live. They should look for locations that are close to a respectable rheumatology institutions, with plenty of parks and recreational areas. The climate is also a very important consideration, and more information about weather conditions in different cities can be found in our list of Best Places to Live with Arthritis and Fibromyalgia in the US. That’s why today, we’ve decided to take a completely different approach in this article.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disorder, which occurs when the immune system attacks body’s own tissues. The first and the most common symptom of this illness is a chronic joint inflammation and pain. That is because the condition affects joint’s alignment and causes deformity and bone erosion. Rheumatoid arthritis can also spread to other parts of the body and affect skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, salivary glands and bone tissue.
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Medicine still doesn’t know the exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis, but the most recent studies have found that genetic component plays a very important role. Although the genes don’t cause this disorder by themselves, they make people vulnerable to different outside influences, including viruses, bacteria, and continuous exposure to asbestos, silica, and dust. Obesity is another risk factor. Overweight people have a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, especially if they are older than 55.
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are usually prescribed with several types of medications, from corticosteroids that relieve them from acute symptoms to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that slow the disorder’s progression and protect joints and bones from permanent damage.
In some cases, rheumatoid arthritis may require surgery, especially if medications fail to prevent the joint damage. Interventions like synovectomy, tender repair, and joint fusion can be quite expensive, as well as all the medication we mentioned above. That’s why we have chosen the Kaiser Foundation’s List of Regions with the Least Expensive Insurance Markets, as the basis for determining the ten best places to live in the US if you have rheumatoid arthritis. In this list, the Kaiser Foundation’s researchers have compared the lowest silver premiums for 40 year-olds, which perfectly fit into our methodology because most patients get affected by rheumatoid arthritis when they are between 40 and 60 years of age.
We have also used the USNews Best Hospitals Ranking. The proximity of a respectable rheumatology institution is an important factor for choosing the ideal home location.
Since obesity is another important risk factor, we have used the Campbell Soup Company’s ‘10 Most Organic Cities in America’ list to determine which cities offer the best selection of organic produce. Rheumatoid arthritis patients need to be physically active. Tai Chi is one of the activities which efficiently relieves them from the most painful symptoms .Since tai chi, yoga, hiking and other light exercises and stretches are even more relaxing when being done outdoors, we have also used the ParkScore’s city rating for determining the best places to live in the US if you have rheumatoid arthritis.
The overall score for each city on this list represents the sum of the first figure from the city’s park score and extra points for high ranking rheumatology institution, low-cost insurance premiums and organic rating from the Campbell Soup Company’s list. Now, let’s see our list of best places to live in the US if you have rheumatoid arthritis.
