Even before you feel any pain, its important to take control of the preventable factors that increase your risk of developing osteoarthritis. Follow these strategies:
Exercise
Since obesity is the top preventable risk factor, maintaining a healthy weight is key to avoiding osteoarthritis. Low impact exercise will help you shed pounds without stressing your joints. Also, using the weight machines at the gym to build your thigh muscles, both quad and bam string is a smart preventive measure. The stronger your thighs are, the more they will stabilize and protect your knees. Also, pain is not a gain. Lessening the stress on a joint when it starts to ache can minimize cartilage damage. If your knees hurt when you jog, than switch to a gentler activity like swimming.
Go For Sensible Shoes
Wearing heels two inches or taller shifts your body weight, increasing the force on your knees and can cause degenerative changes in the joint. Squeezing your feet into too narrow shoes can also spell trouble. Over time this misalignment can cause bone and cartilage in the toe joint to wear away, leading to osteoarthritis.
Vary Your Movements
Since repetitive movements can also do harm, storing frequently used kitchen and pantry items at levels where they are easily reachable without bending can really do good to those with bad hip or knee problem.
Eat Well
A diet that is good for your overall health may also be good for your joints. Eating more fish, fruits and vegetables while limiting refined sugar and flour can ease pain and inflammation. Making these changes may help with weight loss, which does reduce osteoarthritis pain or your risk of developing it.
Vitamins And Calcium
Getting plenty of daily bone building vitamin D ad calcium is also key. You need 400 international units of vitamin D and 100 milligrams of calcium to stave off bone fractures, which can lead to osteoarthritis if the occur near a joint.