9 Tips for Healthy Joints
If you’re like most people, you don’t think much about your joints until they start complaining. But your joints deserve attention long before they cause continuous discomfort. The truth is that prevention really is the best medicine when it comes to your joint health. Check out these 9 tips for healthy joints:
1. Keep Your Body Moving: If you have stiff or swollen joints, you may be avoiding physical activity out of concern that it may cause additional damage or pain. In fact, it's lack of movement that often makes joint problems worse. Movement helps keep your joints loose and lubricated, helping to ease stiffness and pain. Don't let you body stay in the same position for too long; get up from your chair now and then and walk around
2. Protect Your Joints: Protecting your joints from unnecessary stress is important for everyone, but especially for those whose joints are already damaged. Pay attention to your body's pain signals and avoid activities that increase joint pain. Be gentle with your body and balance physical activity with proper rest and recovery. If mobility is becoming difficult, check out some of the assistive devices that are available.
3. Maintain a Healthy Weight: Too much bodyweight puts extra stress on the joints, especially weight-bearing joints such as knees and hips. In fact, every extra pound of body weight that you gain puts four times more stress on your knees when you walk2. That means the reverse is also true: losing a few pounds can dramatically ease the pressure on your joints and help reduce pain and damage.
4. Try Low Impact Exercises: You can still get the benefits of regular exercise without putting stress on your joints. The trick is to do low-impact exercises such as swimming, cycling, walking, or gentle yoga. These kinds of activities help work your muscles and get your heart rate up without putting a lot of force on your joints.
5. Try Weight-Bearing Exercises: When you don't have enough muscle to support your joints, your joints are left to carry the burden of your body weight themselves. But you can take more pressure off your joints by strengthening the muscles that surround them. Weight-bearing exercises can help build strong muscles and ligaments to help stabilize the joints and support your body weight. If you are new to weight training, a personal trainer can help guide you and make sure you are doing the exercises safely and correctly.
6. Try Range Of Motion Exercises: A limited range of motion is often associated with swollen joints. Practice bending, rotating, and extending the joints to put them through their full range of motion. These types of exercises help relieve stiffness and pain along with improving flexibility.
7. Try an Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Inflammation or swelling in the joints is a source of discomfort and stiffness. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet can help decrease inflammation and ease some of these symptoms. A Mediterranean-style diet is often recommended for its anti-inflammatory benefits. It includes plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits, veggies, herbs, nuts, and seeds, as well as cold-water fish and olive oil for healthy omega-3 fats, and steers away from heavily processed foods, red meat, and dairy.
8. Stop Smoking: The American Association of Orthopedic Society says: "Most people are not aware that smoking has a serious negative effect on your bones and joints4." Smoking is associated with worse symptoms of osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, including increased pain. Researchers theorize that increased oxidative damage from smoking helps cartilage deteriorate quicker and interferes with cartilage repair.
9. Try a Glucosamine Supplement: Glucosamine is a natural compound in your body that helps maintain healthy cartilage, that rubbery tissue that cushions bones at your joints. But as you get older, glucosamine levels begin to drop, which leads to the gradual breakdown of the joint. Studies suggest that taking glucosamine supplements may help reduce joint discomfort.5
Browse all of our bone and joint health supplements and vitamins to help support your bones and joints.
References:
1. The Mayo Clinic | Patient Care & Health Information | Diseases & Conditions | Arthritis
2. Weight loss reduces knee‐joint loads in overweight and obese older adults with knee osteoarthritis , 28 June 2005
3. Arthritis Foundation: 14 Ways to Work Out With Arthritis
4. Smoking and Musculoskeletal Health: Effects of Smoking on Musculoskeletal Health
5. Health Benefits of Glucosamine. WebMD