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- Maintain a Healthy Weight – Your body weight plays a huge part in your joint health. So in essence, the heavier you are the greater the impact on the joints and the stronger your muscles have to be to control the movements. It is important to ensure that your body fat percentage is lower than your muscle mass percentage. This is vital to maintaining muscle strength which helps ensure you move well.
- Exercise – Strengthening the muscles around joints is crucial to protecting your joints. Hip problems, for example, can be improved or even prevented by maintaining a good functional range of motion and muscle strength. Exercises such as Yoga can help maintain good mobility. Body weight exercises such as squats and lunges and light dumbbell exercises such as bicep curls are also beneficial. A mixture of impact and non-impact cardio for good bone density. Try and choose low-impact exercises such as swimming, walking, bicycling, etc.
- Watch what you Eat– Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as oily fish can help decrease inflammation of the joints. Eating Calcium rich foods such as broccoli, cheese & yogurt is vital for healthy strong bones.You also need to pay attention to your vitamin D levels, which are crucial for bone development as it allows the proper absorption of calcium into your body. Vitamin D comes mainly from sun exposure so if you live in a climate where you don’t get a lot of sun, you can take Vitamin D3 supplements to ensure you getting enough vitamin D. Nutritional supplements like glucosamine may also help ease joint pain.
- Practice Good Posture– Maintaining good posture is key to preventing joint issues as your muscles and skeletal system work together to put less strain on your joints. Try to maintain good posture by standing straight with your head above your shoulders, your shoulders above your hips and your stomach held in. When sitting at your desk, make sure your elbows and forearms are comfortably supported and that your thighs rest parallel to the ground. There are many online guidelines to help correct common posture mistakes along with the importance of wearing correct, supportive footwear.
- Take Care of your Joints– The smallest joints in our bodies are the most vulnerable and prone to damage. By transferring pressure to larger muscle groups will help protect the smaller ones. To reduce hip or knee stress on stairs, lead with your stronger leg going up and the weaker leg getting you down. To reduce the stress on your wrists and hands, use both hands to pick up heavy things rather than one hand. Also try to avoid heavy lifting when possible so for instance slide things rather than lifting things if possible. If you’re pulling, grasping or carrying an object, change positions frequently if you feel stiffness coming.
