As we age, a normal concern is the pain that you start to feel all over your body, specifically in your joints. It’s natural as time goes on, for the cartilage around your joints to get worn away, casing the bones of your joints to rub against each other. It’s just as painful and uncomfortable as it sounds. So how do you prevent this pain? Here are a few ways to keep your joints healthy(and pain free).
Be active, keep moving
This may sound counterproductive, but trust us on this one. A lot of people who have arthritis or other joint pain avoid exercise, to prevent excess pressure and pain on their joints. However, your joints were literally made for movement. Staying active and moving regularly keeps these joints in movement and will result in less pain. Your joints need to move in order to stay healthy.
Maintain a healthy weight
Talk to your doctor about your weight. If you are at risk of being overweight or obese, you are also at risk for joint pain. The extra weight really takes a toll on your joints, making things more painful and uncomfortable.
Low impact exercises to strengthen muscles around joints
One of the best ways to keep unnecessary pressure off of your joints, is to move that pressure over to your muscles. Doing low impact exercises to strengthen those muscles around your joints, and these specific exercises will prevent inflaming the pain you already experiencing in your joints. A great exercise to try is swimming!
Try out an anti-inflammatory diet
One of the reasons arthritis hurts so much, is because our joints are inflamed. Changing your diet can greatly change the level of pain you experiencing in your joints. If you’re looking for inspiration for your anti-inflammatory diet, look to mediterranean cuisine as a great source of inspiration.
Up your Vitamin D and Calcium intake
Both Vitamin D and calcium are absolutely necessary for healthy bones and joints. And unfortunately, you can’t take one without the other. Vitamin D is actually NECESSARY for calcium absorption. Ask your doctor to perform a blood test to see if you need to supplement with either Vitamin D or calcium.