Out of sight, out of mind!
This is one of the things that comes to mind when it comes to our joints. For most of us, we don’t really think about joint care until they start to act up or hurt us. Think about it, we never really notice breathing through our nose until it is blocked or brought to our attention. Focusing on your breathing now aren’t you?
The trick to healthier joints is constant care and attention. For you joints, prevention is the best medicine. Looking after them now could even help you lessen the issues that may appear as you age. With that in mind, we have gathers 5 great tips for healthier joints.
Weight Management
It seems like everything could be fixed if we maintained a healthy weight. While it may annoy you to hear it, it is somewhat true. Once you maintain a healthy weight you aren’t putting as much stress and pressure on your internal organs and your joints. Studies have shown that weight loss has a positive effect on knee pain, function and stiffness.
If you are unsure about where to start or how to get to the ideal body weight for your age and height, talk to you doctor today.
Healthier Eating
In the past we wrote about the benefits of a vegan diet with regards to inflammation and arthritis. What is known as an anti-inflammatory diet involves avoiding foods that increase inflammation and increasing your intake of foods that help decrease inflammation. Food groups that cause inflammation would be, sugar, fried foods, red meat (burgers & steak) processed meats (sausages) and alcohol etc.
Trying to reduce the level of these food groups and eating more of green leafy vegetables (kale and spinach), nuts, fatty fish (salmon, tuna and sardines) as well as fruit (oranges, strawberries, cherries).
Vitamins & Minerals
Here in the UK, we get a mixed bag of weather on a daily basis. Wake up to the sun, head to work in the rain, eat outside in the wind during lunch and back home to a possibly frosty evening.
It’s because of this that vitamin D are so important. We may not be getting enough sunlight to help us absorb calcium and our bones begin to suffer. It is definitely worth talking to your doctor about vitamin D supplements to help you with healthier joints.
Keep Moving
To keep your joints healthy, exercise really is the key! For those living with arthritis the fear is that physical activity or exercise will cause them more pain or lead to joint damage. This isn’t the case. Your body is supposed to move, your joints allow for movement.
In fact, movement can ease joint stiffness and reduce joint pain. It can also strengthen the muscles around your joints and help maintain a healthy weight.
Listen to your Joints
We aren’t talking about becoming the joint whisperer here. What we mean is that in order to maintain healthier joints you need to make sure you are not putting them under any stress and pain. Remember, it is important to listen to your body.
- Pay attention for signals – this means pains
- Don’t overdo anything. The thrill of completing the task will be short lived when your joints start to act up and cause pain
- Avoid activities and exercise that put excess stress on your joints or increase pain. A good example of this could be running.
Fancy a Cuppa?
The key to healthier joints is constant maintenance and care. That is why the Uccello Kettle is the ideal daily living aid for the home. It’s lightweight design and circular dynamics combined with its rotating cradle transfers any ”lift action” to an assisted ”tilt-to-pour” action. This way there is no longer any lifting, straining, balancing or aiming of hot water!
For more information, check out what Versus Arthritis has on their website.
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