Navigating Healthcare: A Guide to Modern Medicine and Wellness

Healthy Joints in All Stages of Life

Joint health 2Joint health is important in all stages of life. With each age group there are different measures to take to ensure that joints stay healthy and do not seize up or become stiff. Staying active and eating a healthy diet are part of each stage of life. The job that you choose to work and stress that you have in your life do play a factor in how healthy your joints will be as you age. Maintaining a healthy body begins in the womb and should continue through the end of life stages.

Children

In children, calcium and a natural diet are important. This means that milk should be served with at least two meals per day as well as other calcium rich foods throughout the day. Introduce your children to items such as broccoli, avocados, different cheeses, whole grains and yogurt at an early age.

Keep children active. Movement helps joints grow. It also helps growing pains from the joints expanding to be less painful. Walking, biking or jogging daily are ideal activities if children are not involved in any type of sports. Low-impact sports such as soccer, basketball, volleyball and swimming are great for joint development in children.

Teens

Teens tend to get a little lax in the healthy eating and exercise department. For some reason, it seems that teens require more sleep from ages 13 – 18. This can mean that eating habits will also change to less healthy options such as more fried foods, fast food and processed foods. What you can do to help prevent this is teach children and teens how to make healthy meals themselves. They will learn to make these same healthy choices when going out with friends.

Try to enforce the importance of activity such as walking, cardio exercises and just moving in some fashion every day. Joining sports to stay healthy is also a good option. Sports injuries can occur which do often lead to some long term joint health complications. Teens gain a majority of their adult weight during these years. It is ideal to keep them active and moving their joints daily to prevent inflammation in the joints during the young adult years. This can be as simple as having a family gym membership or a workout room in the home for a short workout daily.

Young Adults

Young adults tend to find out what alcohol consumption is and can get a bit out of control with it. Alcohol causes water weight gain, better known as water retention. In combination with sodium from soft drinks, fast food and processed foods, this can be substantial over time. Adopting a lifestyle like this can take its toll on the joints in the body, particularly the hips and knees. For those that consume alcohol and/or soft drinks, it is ideal to drink a glass of water for every beverage of this type to balance it out. As with all age groups, healthy eating and exercise are important here too.

Middle Aged Adults

Life starts to slow down as adults reach mid-life age groups. This also means that metabolisms slow down and weight is easily gained. Food choices become more relaxed and exercise tends to diminish some. At this point in life it is important to include a joint health supplement into your diet if you experience stiff joints after sitting for long periods of time or upon wakening in the morning.

For some, arthritis and joint inflammatory diseases are not preventable, but the effects can be reduced with diet, exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight. Just walking around the block and having an extra glass of water every day can make some difference.

Seniors

Once our bodies reach the senior years, bones, joints and bodies in general can become brittle. This means that joints can sustain injuries easier and are more susceptible to arthritis and overall joint inflammation. Seniors need to remain active. A suggestion is to form a walking group of others in the neighborhood and just take a stroll every evening. It does not have to be fast paced or a long distance at all, activity is important. It is also important to refrain from eating processed foods or foods containing a lot of salt since this causes water retention. Adding in joint health supplements is also a good idea.

If you experience joint stiffness or unexplained joint inflammation, it is a good idea to seek medical assistance to begin rejuvenating damaged joints. For some, referrals to an orthopedic surgeon in NJ are required for surgical and non-surgical treatments. Cartilage can deteriorate as people age, and in these cases, the friction causes an irritation that brings on joint inflammation. Injections into the joints can relieve some of the pressure and help the joints to become less swollen and more movable.

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