Best places to live with arthritis and fibromyalgia in europe

3. Seattle, Washington

If you’re managing RA, driving may be difficult. Your arthritis can make your joints swell and become stiff, making it hard to move your body the way you need to when you’re behind the wheel. Living in a city with a great public transportation system that can get you where you need to go may be the answer. Business Insider magazine ranks Seattle No. 1 in public transportation when factoring in connectivity, commute times, and other criteria. According to the magazine, other great cities include New York — tops for total public transit ridership in the country — Boston, Honolulu, and Washington, DC.

4. San Francisco, California

If you can’t get there by car or public transportation, the next best option could be walking. That puts a walkable city high on the list. According to the Arthritis Foundation, walking just 30 minutes to an hour a day can help with heart health and weight loss, which could mean less stress on your joints and improved RA symptoms. Walk Score gives San Francisco the second highest rating in the country, after New York City. San Francisco has many great neighborhoods for walking, including Chinatown and the Tenderloin.

5. Phoenix, Arizona

If you have RA, sunshine can be your friend. It’s a great source of vitamin D, which is key to regulating immune responses. Low vitamin D is associated with a higher risk of RA, according to a study published in May 2019 in the journal BioMed Research International.

The Arthritis Foundation recommends 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure every other day, which you’re likely to get if you live in a bright place such as Phoenix. Using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Move.org determined that Phoenix is the sunniest city in the United States. It has the potential to be sunny nearly 86 percent of the time.

6. Madison, Wisconsin

Having RA and being under a great deal of stress can make pain and fatigue worse, according to the Arthritis Foundation. This can create a vicious cycle where you become more stressed because your symptoms worsen. Consider living in a city where it’s more likely you can live stress free. According to personal finance technology company SmartAsset, life is less stressful in Wisconsin, including Madison. Residents are far more physically active than those of most other cities, and Madison is home to a wide variety of bars, restaurants, and other entertainment venues.

Keep in mind that you can lower your stress no matter where you live. “A ‘low-stress lifestyle’ will mean different things to different people,” says McLeod. “For some, having a short commute to work will be the best stress buster. For other people, access to green space and nature is important, or living close to friends and family, or a low cost of living.” Think about what could ease stress for you.

7. San Diego, California

If you have RA, you might consider living in a city where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate too much. Big changes in the weather cause changes in barometric pressure, which can cause arthritic symptoms to flare in some people, according to a study published in November 2016 in the Journal of General Practice. That puts San Diego on the list. It has an average daily high of about 70 degrees and a nighttime low of about 57 degrees nearly year-round, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Another plus: San Diego is also sunnier and drier than many U.S. cities. A study published in May 2015 in the journal Rheumatology International found that people with RA had less disease activity when they lived in more sunny and less humid climates.

“Regardless of where you live, managing stress and decreasing inflammation are an important part of the management plan for RA and other inflammatory arthritic conditions,” McLeod says. “Quitting smoking, getting plenty of sleep, eating a healthy diet, and doing regular exercise will all help.”

Additional reporting by Erica Patino

Women with fibromyalgia living in different regions of Europe report significantly different scores when assessing their symptoms, a recent study shows.

The study, “Fibromyalgia Impact Score in Women with Fibromyalgia Across Southern, Central, and Northern Areas of Europe,” was published in the journal Pain Physician.

The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), developed in the early 1990s, is a questionnaire commonly used to assess the severity of fibromyalgia symptoms and how much they affect an individual’s day-to-day life.

Although the questionnaire is used worldwide — it is available in more than a dozen languages — there isn’t much information on how scores tend to differ in different parts of the world, in distinct geographic and societal/cultural contexts.

In this study, researchers administered the FIQ to female participants affected by fibromyalgia in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden. All participants were grouped into one of three broader geographical groups: Northern, Central, and Southern Europe.

The study included 1,478 women: 531 from Southern Europe (Spain), 629 from Central Europe (Belgium and Netherlands), and 318 from Northern Europe (Sweden). The average age of all three groups was about 50 years. However, there were small — but statistically significant — differences between the groups in terms of age and the length of time participants had been experiencing fibromyalgia-related pain symptoms.

There were many significant differences in average scores on the FIQ between the three groups. Although the researchers cautioned that “statistical significance does not always mean clinically relevant,” they highlighted several differences that might be meaningful.

For example, participants from Northern Europe had the average highest score for physical impairment (4.41), followed by those from Southern (3.79) and Central Europe (2.28).

Those from Central Europe reported the lowest overall well-being scores (5.58 vs. 7.20 [Northern] and 7.74 [Southern]).

Participants from Southern Europe reported the most job difficulty (7.13 vs. 6.67 [Central] and 6.43 [Northern]); however, Southern Europe respondents also reported the fewest days of work missed due to fibromyalgia (3.48 vs. 5.61 and 5.72). Those in Southern Europe also reported significantly higher scores for anxiety (6.41 vs. 5.20 [Central] and 5.01 [Norther]) and depression (5.88 vs. 4.45 and 4.36). Pain also was scored higher in the Southern area.

Researchers speculated that some of these differences may be attributable to cultural/societal differences. However, the study did not directly assess relevant factors like race and economic status, so at present, this is only speculation.

More broadly, the researchers highlighted the importance of understanding how scores tend to vary in different places, so that healthcare providers treating people — and researchers doing studies — don’t make erroneous comparisons to a “norm” that may not be representative of the populations they are treating/studying.

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