Stiff Joints And Pain? Prevention And Therapy

Effective tips against joint problems, how to prevent them and what you can do to alleviate them

The elasticity and mobility of our joints determine our ability to cope with our everyday lives.

If the mobility of the joints is restricted by stiffness or pain, our everyday life is also restricted and the quality of life decreases. We’ll show you what can give you relief!

Movement keeps joints supple

An old saying goes: “ If you rest, you rust! “. And it’s true: joints have to be moved so that they do not stiffen and are supplied with the body’s own “synovial fluid”.

Regular exercise protects against degeneration of muscles, bones and joints! Light exposure to pressure promotes stable bone mass.

Movement keeps muscles (or builds them up) and keeps joints flexible. But be careful: intensive and monotonous sport or intensive monotonous standing (e.g. on the assembly line) can lead to greater wear and tear on the joints.

Moving in a varied instead of monotonous way is a good way of preventing joint overload. Excessive stress damages your joints, but too little exercise is bad for all of your joints.

Due to the weakening muscles, the risk of joint damage increases if there is a lack of exercise. Choose an exercise that is easy on the joints, especially if you have a little too much weight on your hips. Swimming works well or walking.

Avoid sports in which your (excessive) body weight impacts the joints in blows, such as jogging.

Choose a sport that not only loads one area of ​​your body, but also gently loads the entire body muscles, thereby strengthening and tightening them in order to protect other joints such as the shoulder joint.

Stop smoking

Rheumatism patients in particular are advised to stop smoking, as smoking promotes joint inflammation.

Anyone who smokes worsens existing joint inflammation, prevents rapid healing or improvement and even causes new diseases of the joints, such as psoriatic arthritis in the context of psoriasis.

You know yourself that smoking is not only harmful to your joints. So what are you waiting for when your joints torment while smoking a cigarette?

Maintain or achieve normal weight

Too much body weight puts a lot of strain on all joints. Due to the constant overloading, the joints wear out much faster if you are overweight than if you are of normal weight.

The knees and hips are traditionally affected. The cartilage layer of the joint is worn away too quickly by the increased body weight and is therefore thinner and thinner. As a result, the bone lying under the cartilage is then stressed, deformed and perforated.

Due to the constant pressure from being overweight, the damaged head of the thigh, for example, is then deformed so that it is no longer spherical, but flattened.

This results in increased wear and tear, in addition to a misalignment, which in turn causes further wear and tear. The simplest solution here is: don’t be overweight!

Prevent gout

Gout is a form of arthritis that has been known since ancient times and is characterized by an increased uric acid level in the organism.

As the uric acid level in the blood rises, crystals can accumulate in the joints, trigger inflammatory processes there and thus lead to gout.

Uric acid is mainly produced when purines are broken down. Purines are substances found in foods, especially meat. Therefore, meat consumption should be severely restricted in order to lower the level of uric acid in the blood.

Eat healthy

A healthy, balanced and sensible diet supports your normal weight or helps you to reach your ideal weight.

In your balanced diet, you should pay attention to bone minerals such as calcium, magnesium and phosphorus and avoid foods that, for example, dissolve phosphorus from the bone mass. This includes, for example, processed cheese.

A healthy diet also prevents gout and obesity.

gelatin

Gelatine can have a supportive effect in the treatment of osteoarthritis . The prerequisite for this, however, is that the parts of the body affected by wear still have regenerative cartilage.

If the cartilage is so badly worn or damaged that it can no longer regenerate, gelatine therapy will no longer help.

The gelatine absorbed with the capsules is incorporated into the cartilage that still exists, but it cannot work miracles and build up new cartilage in the joints in cartilage-free areas.

So anyone who suffers from a type of osteoarthritis that is not very advanced can improve their condition with gelatine.

Gelatine is a useful addition to the daily diet not only for the treatment of osteoarthritis, but also for the prevention of damage to the joint cartilage. Because if the articular cartilage is well nourished, it is not so easy to damage.

pineapple

The pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which soothes inflammation and reduces swelling. Therefore, this active ingredient is often recommended after dental or oral surgery procedures.

In order to absorb the necessary amount of bromelain, you have to incorporate a lot of pineapple into your diet, but the active ingredient is also available in concentrated form in tablet form.

If you only occasionally suffer from joint pain and want to prevent inflammation and swelling, simply integrate pineapple products such as pineapple juice or fresh pineapple (please not sweetened and only canned fruits without sugar!) In your daily menu.