When the aging factor is taken as the sole reason behind this health problem, there might be some other leading causes too. Health conditions like osteoarthritis is one of those possibilities.
But the good news is that you can prevent joint pain with aging only by adopting a few healthy lifestyle changes. Such as staying healthy, eating healthy and living healthy in all aspects to enjoy a movable life. These tips can further save you from excessive medication and steroids to heal the joint pain.
Here are few vital tips that you can adapt to protect your joints as you age:
1- Manage Weight:
Managing weight is essential to prevent old age aches and pain, explicitly preventing joint pain. The risk of joint pain increases if you have an inadequate weight, either overweight or underweight. Having an extra 10 pounds would increase the pressure on each knee up to 40 pounds. Study shows that managing weight is crucial for osteoarthritis-related pains.
Similarly, if you are underweight, then it still is a problem. The stability of the joints is at risk due to poor muscle development which leads to weak joints. Manage your weight by consulting a physician, adapting the correct exercises, and eating a healthy diet.
2- Regular Exercises:
Regular exercise keeps the joint in continuous action, which ensures their health as you age. The more active the joints are, the less the chances of injury and pain with advancing ages. Different exercises are best for joints, as they maintain joint activity and help reduce weight. Staying active can last the joints fluid longer than expected.
Regular exercises like walking, yoga, jogging, running or swimming, etc., can help protect the joint’s strength. A research study that aims to relate the effect of exercise like walking with knee osteoarthritis concludes that knee osteoarthritis has considerably reduced with this light exercise.
3- Warm-up and Cool Down:
Joint trouble will begin if you start any work or exercise without warming up the targeted muscles. So it’s necessary to take time for warm-up instead of exhausting the muscles with vigorous workouts.
In addition, with advancing age, muscle resistance reduces significantly. Hence, exercising without warm-up may bring more harm. Similarly, cooling down is crucial to reduce the drastic joint consequences later on, such as arthritis symptoms. Therefore, it is recommended to spend at least a few minutes for warm-ups pre-workout and cool-ups in post-workout sessions.
4- Quit Smoking:
Smoking could be hazardous for the joints if not quitted before the appropriate time. Plus, it enhances inflammation throughout the body and delays the healing process. So if you unfortunately get injured and suffer joint pain, smoking would worsen the arthritis symptoms.
It may be challenging to quit smoking at first, but not if you consider the advantages of quitting this bad habit. You will indeed find it a good deal for prolonging healthy joints. A study analyzing the effect of smoking shows a relative increase in joint-related symptoms like pain and swelling among smokers compared to non-smokers.
5- Stay Hydrated:
Water is the principal constituent of overall body health as well as joints. Your joint cartilage comprises almost 80% of water which is vital for joint mobility. However, staying dehydrated can pull the water from joint cartilage to critical organs of the body. As a result, it can cause severe joint issues. Thus, it is recommended to stay well hydrated to maintain the longevity of joints.
Keep water along with you every time, and try to drink much water as it can lubricate your knee joint naturally. Try to avoid the soda drinks and replace them with water.
6- Foot Care:
The feet can be problematic if they have abnormal dimensions such as tilted outward or inward, pigeon toes and flat feet, etc. It is because our movement and moving body posture greatly depends on our feet. In addition, if feet are abnormal, there is an imbalance in weight distribution over the joints. This means that you may suffer from joint problems. Hence, it’s essential to resolve foot issues, if any, by consulting a doctor.
The impact of your feet care is wide. Here’s our hot tip to take some extra care of your feet: Take some olive oil and massage it gently on the sole of your feet every night before you sleep. This is a famous ayurvedic trick – known for its amazing results on the overall human health.
7- Avoid Sugar Drinks:
If you consume sugary drinks in excess, your body is more susceptible to suffering from joint problems as you age. Also, these drinks weaken the joint and show less resistance to the inflammatory changes, delaying the inflammatory process.
Research studies relate sugar drinks with significant weight gain and obesity, which can cause arthritis or may worsen the joint pain symptoms. Moreover, if you consume approximately ten teaspoons of sugar from the sugar soda drinks daily, then the inflammatory marker rises in the body. Therefore, it can produce more risk of joint problems as you age.
8- Healthy Diet:
It may sound cliche but a healthy diet definitely stands on the top list to living a healthy life – Especially, life free from the burden of joint pain. Conversely, you need to invest in your body for a healthy life with the progressing age. It prevents several problems associated with age including arthritis.
Thus, Adopting a nutritious diet, including food for healthy joints and cartilages, is a suitable option. Add fresh foods, like fruits and leafy vegetables, and nuts, to your diet to lessen the joint inflammatory chances. It is suggested to have a Mediterranean diet with age as it will help maintain the weight and reduce the risk of joint infection.
9- Regular Check-Ups:
Severe joint problems never occur suddenly but take time to develop, showing mild symptoms like pain and swelling. If there is joint pain after an exercise, persisting a bit longer than you need to see a doctor immediately.
Regular check-ups are essential to diagnose any joint disorder earlier and prevent it from further worsening. Furthermore, advancing age increases the risk of other factors associated with joint pain, so regular checkups benefit the body. Check your heart score here.
10- Adequate Sleep:
Good sleep hygiene is vital to protect the joint with age or prevent the severity of already prevailing arthritis symptoms. Less sleep is associated with depression which may worsen joint health. Sleeping can calm the body and helps to reduce the joint pain if you have arthritis or prevent the joint pain for later on healthy joints.
Thus, it is essential to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Make sure to set aside unnecessary things while sleeping, like a mobile phone, disturbing the sleep cycle.
FAQs: Protect Your Joints
1- How can I naturally lubricate my joints?
Foods like olive oil, nuts, trouts, salmon, etc., can naturally lubricate the joints like knees and lower inflammation.
2- What are three things you can do to protect your joints?
Here the three most important things to protect the joint
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Keep body moving
- Healthy diet
3- Does low vitamin D cause joint pain?
Yes, deficiency of Vitamin D can cause pain in joints and muscles associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
4- What food helps to protect your joint pain?
There is a long list of foods for healthy joints and cartilages which relieve joint pain. Some of them include fish oil, several fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, olive oil, etc.
5- What is the most potent natural anti-inflammatory?
Omega 3 fatty acid is the most potent natural anti-inflammatory present in fatty fishes. However, now also available as supplementation.
Bottom Line
Joint pains are better to be prevented earlier instead of treating them later on. It is not much challenging to protect the joint with age but requires little care and attention. You have to adapt to a few changes in lifestyle for healthy living and longevity of the joints. We can’t reverse the aging process, but little effort can make it comfortable.
