Tonya Horton is aChronic Strength Champion, which means she doesn’t just take control of her pain — she battles back. Read to learn how Tonya has found ways to overcome her osteoarthritis.

I’ll never forget the surprised look on my new doctor’s face when she entered the examination room four years ago.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you,” she said. “Your X-rays show the knees of a 70-year-old woman.”

Yes, my osteoarthritis diagnosis was a surprise. But it shouldn’t have been. Osteoarthritis (OA) disproportionately impacts women — especially women of color. It isn’t uncommon for a Black woman like me to develop osteoarthritis, but this isn’t universally known.

这就是为什么我致力于分享我的故事来鼓舞其他OA患者，他们可能不知道他们可以获得资源和其他人的支持，他们了解他们正在经历什么。我把这种热情转化为对有色人种女性在病人护理方面所经历的不平等进行研究。我们还有很长的路要走，但我发现，我分享的故事越多越好。

My journey through pain
四年后，我有好有坏，但很少有“不疼”的日子。为了帮助减少糟糕的日子，我找到了控制疼痛的策略。这是一段旅程——但我尽我所能控制我的痛苦，这样我就可以按照自己的方式生活。

My medication options are limited due to allergies, so I’ve had to learn complementary methods of pain management — a ton of which I learned through the Arthritis Foundation’se-Books; my favorite isCoping & Comfort, which has a lot of firsthand advice from arthritis patients.

我还发现压力会让我的症状更严重，所以我开始做的一件事就是冥想。无论是一分钟还是五分钟的冥想，我发现每天花几分钟来重新设置可以帮助我扎根，让我的大脑远离痛苦，或者帮助我在失眠之夜后感觉好一点。

作为另一种自我照顾的方式，我尽可能多地练习瑜伽。尤其是哈他瑜伽，对缓解我的疼痛很有帮助，因为它帮助我以我从未想象过的方式移动和伸展。

In addition to making tweaks to my daily routine, I had to make big lifestyle changes to accommodate my situation: I relocated to a single-story home to avoid using stairs and purchased an arthritis-friendly car to make my day-to-day easier.

Support from others
Right after my diagnosis, I was hesitant to open up about my arthritis to others — even to my family. It may seem backwards, but I found strength by first connecting with total strangers. I’ve found community through the Arthritis Foundation, and now I’m a member of their Patient Leadership Council. Talking about my story with others who “get it” has given me the confidence to talk to my family, friends and co-workers. There areLive Yes! Connect Groupsin a lot of places, completely run by volunteers. People come together virtually and in person, when safe to do so, to share stories.

Another way I find support is through the newVim app— a tool I wish I had when I was first diagnosed. Through the app, I’m able to focus on my physical pain while assessing my mental health as well. Mental health isn’t often top-of-mind when dealing with a physically debilitating disease like arthritis, and the app’s social networking component allows me to connect with even more people facing similar battles.

At the end of the day, my biggest mantra is I don’t have to sacrifice the fullness of my life because I have arthritis. For those living with a chronic illness, they sometimes reduce their life to the bare minimum, but I refuse to do that. I can, and do, live a full life with arthritis.