How to protect your joints as you age from arthritis
- Plan to quit smoking. Smoking and tobacco use are risk factors for cardiovascular problems to cancer and can hamper your joints.
- Replace energy drinks and soda with water. Water makes up about 80 percent of your body’s cartilage (the flexible, connective tissue that cushions your joints).
- Don’t let extra pounds overtax your joints
- Always warm-up and cool down. Skipping your warm-up can put your joints at a higher risk of strain and overloading on your muscles and joints, putting them at risk for injury.
- Listen to your body’s cues. Joint pain after exercise is another as your body is telling you there is something wrong.
- Balancing low-impact exercises with your impact activities to strengthen the muscles will help protect your joints.
- Increase the flexibility of your joints by warming and stretching before and after exercise. When a joint is stiff, it can alter the stresses seen during activities and it’s more prone to swelling, which can weaken the muscles protecting the joint.
- Wear the Right Shoes. Regardless of the activity, shoes should provide cushioning, stability, and comfort while being flexible. Arches on our feet can be high, normal, or non-existent, and knowing this information is crucial for selecting a training shoe. Also, knowing your foot strike pattern, whether it’s overpronation, underpronation or neutral, is necessary for finding the right shoe.
- To aide in stretching and improving flexibility get a foam roller
- Protect your joints when you are young. Consult your doctor or rheumatologist when in doubt.
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