Here are some ways to help with osteoarthritis prevention.
Stay on or Strive for Your Ideal Weight
Walking can exert pressure on the knee about 4.5 times the person’s body weight. This implies that if you are 10 pounds excess your ideal weight, the force on the knee will be around 45 pounds when you take a step. The pressure on the hip walking makes on the body is about 3 times one’s body weight. Therefore, the less weight you have, the less pressure you bear on your joints.
Exercise Regularly
About 30 minutes of moderate workouts performed five days a week is recommended for optimal joint health. Lower levels of exercise are also good for the joints and muscles.
Protect Your Joints
This can be done by utilizing proper body mechanics and good posture.
Avoid Repetitive Stress on the Joints
This means avoiding any frequent uninterrupted repetitions of a motion or activity as well as avoidance of muscle fatigue, incorrect posture, overexertion and awkward or unnatural motions. Avoid any occupation that forces you to do these aforementioned activities. Attempt to seek solutions at your workplace and do not perform or at least minimize doing activities that are prolonged and repetitive.
Listen to Your Pain
Train yourself to see pain as a body signal telling you that you may be overdoing activities and resting then is the right thing to do. Balancing activity and rest is very important for having healthy joints. Good osteoarthritis prevention means good self-management to know how not to overuse your joints and ho not to overdo activities.
Avoid Injury to Joints
One cause of osteoarthritis is a previous joint injury. The articular cartilage can start to degenerate due to improper joint alignment and can eventually develop into osteoarthritis. Avoid injury all the time but if you are injured seek medical treatment immediately.
Ivelisse DeJongh is a Miami acupuncturist and the medical director at DeJongh Acupuncture Clinic.