If osteoarthritis is hereditary or if it just a matter of aging, then can we really prevent it from happening? Maybe not entirely but we can prevent it from taking over our lives and changing it into day after day of pain. We can prevent the terrible symptoms of osteoarthritis by resorting to medication, exercise and staying fit. We can prevent it from winning the war of pain against us and we can fight back and keep the pain away. We can do all of this, if we only try.
First of all, you cannot prevent osteoarthritis from happening. But what is more important is that you can prevent its destructive pain from getting a grip on you. One doesn’t really know why osteoarthritis affects a person – it could be in his genes, it could be due to some injury or infection, maybe even an allergy. While these causes are uncontrollable, you can control and manage the condition with a bit of care and discipline. All it takes is for you to be positive and be willing to do anything to keep the pain at bay.
The main thing is to get medical advice on time – which means as soon as the pain strikes. Don’t wait for it to get bad before you pay the doctor a visit – go while you can still walk well and not feel the pain and stiffness too much. Later is not just worse, it could just be too late. If you have to take medication to keep the pain under control, so be it. You need something to control the pain if it’s already started and it would be foolish to suffer in silence. Osteoarthritis needs treatment on many fronts – medication, exercise and the power of positive thinking.
Now let’s look at what you can do if you feel that you could be prone to getting osteoarthritis. This could be because you are getting on in years, because there are people in your family suffering from it or because you’ve suffered some injury to the joints. The first thing to do is to be active without overstretching and overusing your joints. Gentle exercise like walking or swimming is great – make sure you avoid long periods of inactivity. Don’t start going to the gym in your fifties if you’ve never done it before. You need to be practical when it comes to exercise – don’t try something new and tough if you aren’t young. And if you feel any exercise getting too much, stop it, especially if you feel any pain.
What you need to do is to be the right weight – if you are fat, get rid of those extra pounds. Less weight means less stress on those joints and that means the joints don’t take a beating. It is estimated that at least three times your body weight’s force is exerted across your knees while you walk. So every pound of excess weight could mean three extra pounds of force that the knees have to bear. You also need to be careful when you are putting a strain on your joints like lifting weights or carrying something heavy. If you think something’s hard for you to handle, ask for help. You need to also strengthen the muscles all around the joints so start an exercise regimen that helps you do just that. Muscles that are healthy and strong protect the joints from too much wear and tear.
Your posture is also of the utmost importance. A straight spine means far less stress on all the joints in your body. Just a little care and thought and you could be much kinder than you are to your joints than when you slouch. You also need to see what the best body movements for you are and follow them. Some people don’t need a great deal of exercise to stay fit and healthy while some others do. Doing too much can put a lot of extra stress on your joints and maybe even injure them. If your joints are sensitive and prone to getting hurt, protect them with knee guards, wrist guards, etc. Try and avoid awkward or jerky movements as well as using one joint too much. This repetitive stress can cause injury and weaken that particular joint.
Take the time to be aware of your body – whether it is in pain, whether it is stiff, whether you have a swelling anywhere or maybe even tender spots that hurt. Considering that over 20 million Americans are afflicted with this condition, most of them 40 years and above, you might want to do something to escape the pain of osteoarthritis and not be yet another statistic. Don’t be passive about osteoarthritis – a pro-active approach can prevent or at least control the pain of this condition.