Tips for Improving Bone and Joint Health

In the United States, one in three adults suffer from some form of chronic joint pain. Most of these joint pain problems can be reduced or avoided completely with just some basic changes in our everday lifestyles. This article is designed to give you tips and advice that can help.

1. Lose weight - Carrying around extra body weight creates severe strains on your joints, particularly the knee joints. You can drastically reduce the amount of pain you feel in those joints by simply losing weight. In fact, losing as little as ten pounds of body weight can help improve the joint pain problems almost immediately.

2. Stretch first - If you exercise a lot, and particularly if you work hard to build muscle, you need to be sure you stretch first. Many bodybuilding and weight lifting related joint pain problems are caused by tendonitis, which is an inflamation or irritation of the tendons. This type of joint pain can be reduced or eliminated by stretching, because you'll warm up your tendons before working them too hard, and they'll be more flexible and able to handle the added weight or exercise loads you're putting on them.

3. Warm Up - This tip also applies to anyone who exercises or lifts weights regularly. Your body needs to be warmed up properly in order to work properly and avoid excess injuries. Warming up allows your tendons to flex and become more supple, allows the muscles to loosen up and work better, and gets the blood flowing through your body.

4. Change Exercises - Whether you're an advid or occasional exerciser, you might want to consider changing the type of exercise you do. Impact style exercising such as step aerobics or kick boxing is much harder on your joints, and can cause a lot more pain and problems. Change to exercises such as yoga and water based workouts to take the load off your joints and help prevent more pain problems.

5. Don't over exercise - Regardless of the type of exercise you do, or how heavy your workout is, your body needs time to repair. Someone who does hours of intense exercising daily will have more problems with chronic joint pain than someone who allows their body to recuperate. Your muscles, tendons and ligaments all need time to rest and repair after a hard workout. That's what causes them to strengthen over time.

6. Change Positions - Even if you don't workout, your job or daily routines could be the cause of chronic joint pain. Sitting or standing all day are examples of routines that can cause joint pain. Try to vary your routine a bit, to give both your body and your joints variety and rest periods.

7. Get Better Shoes - Women who wear high heeled shoes have 7-10 times greater chances of developing joint pain and problems. If you're in love with super high heeled shoes, at least try to vary the height regularly. Wear one inch heels for a day, then two inch heels another day and so on. It's best if you simply stick to heels lower than three inches though.

Likewise, if you wear tennis other other types of shoes, you need to make sure they fit properly. Your toes should not be cramped, and there should be the proper amount of arch support. Your shoes should also have some sort of cushion, particularly under the ball and heel areas of your feet.

8. Get Your Supplements - Making sure you're getting enough of the required vitamins, minerals and supplements is one of the best ways to help reduce, eliminate, and even prevent chronic joint pain. Calcium is important to keep your bones strong, and strong bones keep your joints healthy. You also need plenty of vitamin C and anti-oxidents. Fish oil and flax oil provide omega-3 fatty acids, which work wonders for keeping your joints in optimum health, and glucosamine helps improve joint flexibility, as well as helping to rebuild joint cartilage.

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