Marie Brace
Join – the place where two or more bones are joined, such as knees, hips and elbow. There are two types of joints, rigid joints, like the joints between the bones in the skull and movable joints, like knees, hips and shoulders.
The main point to understand about the joints is that most of them have cartilage on the end of the bones that come together. Cartilages help in easy movement, allow the bones to glide over one another comfortably and protect the bone from rubbing against each other. Hence, it vital to keep the cartilages healthy.
Maintaining healthy joints helps a person in several ways, including easy movement, run, walk, enjoy daily activities and play sports. Several factors need to be taken care of to ensure the joints are healthy. Physical activities, avoiding injuries, perfect postures, wearing the right shoes, having a healthy diet and strengthening exercises are important factors to ensure a healthy joint.
Ensure to have a healthy and balanced diet every day
The key is to have the balance of calories that are taken in by having the right food and burning the calories by doing physical activity and exercise to maintain a healthy weight.
A healthy diet helps in managing weight. An overweight body exerts extra weight on the weight-bearing joints of your body, such as the hips, knees and ankles. It results in damage to the joints and causes joint pain, and affects mobility. It also helps in the wear and tear of the joints.
Having a balanced diet will help in managing the overall weight of the body. And also provide all the nutrients needed to maintain the bone and muscles.
The food to include in the balanced diet are –
- Fruits and vegetables
- Whole grains
- Fat-free or low-fat dairy products – milk, cheese and yoghurt
- Lean protein – meats, poultry
- Seafood
- Eggs
- Nuts
- Beans
- Low cholesterol, salt, saturated fats
- Low sugar
- Reduce refined grains
- Low trans fat
Regular exercise
Exercising helps in reducing and maintaining weight. It helps in maintaining healthy joints. Try exercises such as –
- Bicycling
- Pilates
- Swimming
- Brisk walking
- Yoga
Seek the help of a physical trainer if you are new to exercise. Overdoing any exercise will affect the joints inversely.
Another important point to remember is always warm-up and cool down before and after exercise for five minutes. Avoiding the warm-up and cooling down cause a greater risk of stain and overloading on the joints, especially as the person gets older. Warming up with gentle movements such as side bends, shoulder shrugs, arm circles, overhead stretches makes the body ready for the exercise. Ensure that exercise should not cause any pain. And do the warm-up exercise with simple stretches, and hold movements after the workout.
Exercising regularly will keep the joints flexible and strong, reduce weight, and maintain a healthy body weight. Listen to the body while exercising, mild muscle soreness after starting exercise is normal. But make sure that it does not last for not more than a few days. Get used to the routine, and if the pain last, fix the appointment with the physician.
