Joint Health Recommendations

Your joints are one of your major lifelines to healthy mobility. When any joint suffers, your entire balance can be thrown off making the simplest actions a difficult challenge. A compromised diet, lack of exercise, trauma, disease and overuse can all contribute to vulnerable joints that may eventually become very painful, stiff and immobile. These joint health recommendations may surprise or remind you of how important it is to not take them for granted.

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

As you age wear and tear can result in loss of lubrication, extensive stress on ligaments, tendons and muscles as well as muscle weakness all affecting joint health. In turn, inflammation can become a major factor causing various levels of pain. This is known as chronic inflammation and some believe it can be reduced or, in some cases, eliminated through specific dietary choices. Dr. Weill, the renowned Harvard educated doctor who is dedicated to integrative medicine recommends an anti-inflammatory diet to combat all kinds of pain. According to the U.S. News health section, “His diet aims to boost physical and mental health, provide a steady supply of energy, and reduce the risk of age-related diseases by serving up healthy fats, fiber-rich fruits and veggies, lots of water, and limited amounts of animal protein—except when it comes to oily fish.”

The Arthritis Foundation also recommends an anti-inflammatory diet stating that it:

• Reduces inflammation while providing steady energy and plenty of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, dietary fiber, and protective phytonutrients.
• Is a way of selecting and preparing foods based on scientific knowledge of how food can help your body maintain optimum health.
• Is not intended for weight loss, though people do lose weight on it.

Remember, processed foods and sugar as well as an overabundance of animal meats and dairy can all contribute to joint inflammation. Stick to a fresh Mediterranean, Vegetarian or Flexitarian (limited animal products, maximum produce) diet to eat low on the food chain and give your body a break from packaged, chemically processed foods. Check with your doctor or a licensed holistic practitioner to integrate an anti-inflammatory diet into your life.

Build a Muscle Cage

When your knees or elbows hurt for an elongated period of time you may end up going to your doctor. The conventional medicine protocol usually revolves around prescribing pain, anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant medications. In addition, sometimes physical therapy may be recommended. Gulping down a bunch of pills could temporarily help however they may also be very taxing on your system. There are other oral supplemental approaches such as the anti-inflammatory diet and vitamin, mineral and botanical medicine choices (discussed below) that you may be able to get the same results from. Physical therapy on the other hand is always a beneficial approach as it concentrates on specific exercises to assist your joints and reduce pain. If you have joint pain or want to prevent it, it is important to maintain a “muscle cage” around your joints for optimum support. When muscles are weak the joints can take more stress than they can handle. When muscles are strong and toned they can act as cushions, shock absorbers and a veritable “scaffold” around your joints distributing physical stress more evenly. In addition, as you build muscle you reduce fat as well as stimulate stronger bone attachments.

Supplemental Fixes

Turning to herbs and vitamins to combat or prevent joint pain can be an excellent remedy. It is always important to check with your doctor to make sure any supplements you take do not interfere with any individual health challenges you may have.

Below are some herbal, mineral and vitamin remedies for joint health as recommended by Natural News:

• Selenium
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin A
• Copper
• Zinc
• Boswellia
• Celery
• Ginger
• Hop Tea (Humulus lupulus)
• Licorice (could be dangerous, check with your doctor)
• Curcumin (Turmeric)
• Oregano
• Alfalfa tea
• Devil’s claw
• Sarsaparilla tea
• Wild yam
• Yucca

These are a handful of joint health recommendations that may help you get back on a path toward pain-free mobility. Start out slowly and integrate each one with the advice of your doctor until you are able to see some beneficial results. It may be the best choice you ever made.