While joint issues can be a natural part of the ageing process due to wear and tear over the years, there are still things you can do to reduce the likelihood of experiencing pain and stiffness.
In particular, there are a number of small lifestyle changes you can make as you enter your forties that will have a lasting positive impact on your joint health, helping you stay active and mobile long into the future.
By forming good, sustainable habits, you can reduce the strain on your joints and help support the muscles that keep your joints working at their best – and here are seven simple examples to get you started.
1. A little movement, every day
Keeping moving regularly is one of the best things you can do to keep your joints strong, limber and pain-free, because daily activity helps maintain flexibility and encourages the production of the synovial fluid that lubricates and nourishes your cartilage.
Low-impact exercises are best because these help to strengthen your body while also avoiding excessive strain on your joints. So when you’re thinking of daily activities, you might want to consider things like swimming or cycling – or, easiest of all, just heading out for a daily walk. Activities like yoga or tai chi can also be a great way of improving flexibility and balance.
Above all, the most important thing to do is keep moving gently but consistently. A daily walk to the shops is much better than a very intense, high-impact activity once a week.
2. Build and maintain muscle strength
Your muscles play an incredibly important role in supporting your joints, protecting them by absorbing the impact of walking or climbing stairs for example, and reducing the strain placed onto your load-bearing hips, knees and ankles.
As you age, muscle mass naturally starts to decline unless it is maintained through regular activity – but maintaining your muscles doesn’t mean becoming a seasoned weight lifter! There are plenty of gentle weight training exercises you can do, such as using resistance bands, lifting light dumbbells or doing workouts that are based on your body weight (e.g. push-ups and squats).
Repeating these sorts of exercises two to three times a week not only strengthens the muscles around your joints, but improves balance and stability, making it less likely that you’ll fall or injure yourself.
3. Enjoy a balanced, Mediterranean-style diet
A healthy diet is a vital factor in getting all the nutrients your bones, muscles and joints need to keep working properly long into the future.
The Mediterranean-style diet is known to be packed with healthy nutrients that are great for joint health, given its focus on olive oil, oily fish, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruit and wholegrains – while also keeping highly processed foods and added sugar to a minimum. The high content of omega-3 fatty acids in this kind of diet is great for joint health, with many believing that it helps to reduce inflammation in the joints.
Staying well hydrated is also crucial, as water keeps joints lubricated by supporting the tissues that surround and cushion them.
4. Keep an eye on your weight
Extra body weight places a disproportionate amount of strain on your joints, especially those that support your body weight like the knees, hips and ankles – and increased strain means increased wear and tear.
That’s why maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best ways to protect your joints, and even losing a small amount of excess weight can make a big difference to the amount of pressure on load-bearing joints. Fortunately, if you’re getting regular exercise and sticking to a healthy diet as outlined above, you’ll already be doing much of the work required to maintain a healthy weight.
5. Look after your posture
If you spend most of the day sitting at a desk, you’re at risk of placing additional strain on your neck, shoulders, back and hips. Furthermore, if you’re not observing good posture, your muscles are likely to tighten up and make you feel stiff at the end of the day.
When sitting at a desk, you can correct your posture by making sure you are sitting with both feet flat on the floor, that your computer is at eye level and by taking regular breaks so that you are not sitting in the same position for long periods of time. Standing up and walking around for a few minutes each hour is a great idea, as is doing some gentle stretches to ward off stiffness and keep your joints moving freely.
6. Sleep well
Getting enough good quality sleep is highly beneficial to maintaining joint health. While you’re asleep, your body is working hard to repair your muscles and joint tissue after the day’s exertions.
Meanwhile, research has shown that poor quality sleep is linked to increased levels of inflammation in the body, which may aggravate any aches and joint pain you are prone to.
Adults should be aiming for around seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and you can boost the quality of your sleep by establishing a regular nighttime routine, limiting screen time in the evening, and perhaps even having a warm bath or shower before going to bed, to help ease aching muscles and joints.
7. Address issues early
If you are experiencing persistent joint pain, ignoring it and hoping it will go away is the last thing you should be doing. Occasional aches that disappear on their own are normal, yes – but anything that sticks around, leads to swelling or impacts your movement needs to be addressed.
Getting advice from a healthcare professional early can make all the difference in preventing a minor issue becoming a long-term problem. Physiotherapists can suggest tailored exercises to improve your strength, flexibility and mobility, while your GP can look into the causes of any persistent or worsening symptoms.
Seeking help early is even more crucial after an injury to prevent long-lasting damage. So the message is clear: if you identify an issue that isn’t resolving on its own, always seek medical advice.
Support your joints and they’ll support you
Ageing is a fact of life, but joint pain and loss of mobility don’t have to be. By adopting simple, sustainable and healthy habits like those above, you are giving yourself the best possible chance of having healthy joints to support you through a lifetime filled with independence and activity. For a drug free way of keeping your joints healthy look to FlexiSEQ to help your joints be supple, flexible and mobile.