An often overlooked aspect of wellness for many people is joint health. But, how do you take care of your joints in the first place?
Our joints support us and enable us to get around as safely, smoothly and painlessly as possible. Unfortunately, so many of us don’t really give them a second thought in day to day life. It’s time for that to change!
Here are five of the best things you can do now and every day to improve your joint health going forward.
Move It
It should almost go without saying that the best thing you can do for your joints is to use them.
Staying active is one of the best ways to ease stiffness and pain in joints and strengthen the muscles that support them so that they can support you in your day to day activities, whatever they may be.
Even just walking more instead of taking the care will make a surprising amount of difference.
Take Pain Seriously
Joint pain is really common, but most of us simply treat it as nothing more than a niggle, unless that is, it becomes really painful.
This is the wrong way to go about things because, although most joint pains will not be serious, pain is still a sign that something is not right. You should almost always explore what that is and if required, treat it, in order to maintain the highest possible level of joint care.
A good Osteopathic Consultancy can get to grips with most joint pains and support you in fixing any issues you may have.
So, if you feel a pain, do something about it.
Lose weight
If you are overweight, that will naturally put more strain on your knee joints. This could lead to pain or general wear and tear, so it is a really good idea to try and get down to as close to a healthy weight as you can.
However, even losing a few pounds can take the pressure off a little.
If you are already at a healthy weight, then eating healthy and exercising regularly to maintain it will really help with your joint wellness too.
Build muscle
Exercise with strength training, not just cardio, is really good for your joints. It builds and strengthens muscles which are then able to support your joints more effectively.
It is also a great way to improve your core stability, lose weight effectively and maintain your strength as you get older. There really is no reason not to add it to your wellness regime if you are able to do so.
Take supplements
Supplements, (vitamin D and calcium, in particular) can really help to maintain good joint health.
So, if you feel like you do not get enough in your diet, you might want to think about supplementing to ensure that your joints have all they need to stay healthy and support you.
Your joints do a lot of hard work supporting your body, so the least you can do is show them some consideration. Put some of these basic joint health tips into practice in your daily life and see the difference it makes.
Photo by Ron Lach and Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
