How To Improve Joint Health Naturally: Top 10 Strategies

Executive Summary

• Joint health gauges the function and comfort of areas where two or more bones meet, considering the surrounding tissue and the joint surfaces. Unhealthy joints can cause pain, limit mobility, and hinder daily activities.
• Certain factors like age, genetics, and physical activity can increase the risk of developing common joint conditions, such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and bursitis.
• To improve joint health, you should try natural strategies, such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, stretching daily, and consuming a balanced diet.
• Sometimes, surgical intervention is the best way to achieve long-lasting relief from joint issues. Still, there are non-surgical alternatives you can try first, such as pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy.

Learning Strategies for Improving Joint Health

Joint health evaluates the comfort and functionality of regions where two or more bones connect, taking the surrounding tissue and joint surfaces into account. Joint problems are usually accompanied by pain, swelling, or structural changes that can restrict movement and make daily tasks more difficult.

Many people suffer from joint conditions, including degenerative joint and bone diseases like osteoarthritis. Joints naturally deteriorate from age, but various factors such as activity level, injury history, and muscle strength can also affect joint health. You should learn how to improve joint health and proactively care for your joints through natural approaches.

You should consult a trusted joint specialist to diagnose your joint issue. They can also teach you how to improve joint health naturally through strategies like strength training and maintaining proper posture. Still, your medical provider may recommend surgical intervention or non-surgical alternative treatments like pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy as other long-term solutions.

Joint Health Considerations

The areas between two or more bones are called joints and comprise connective tissues and fluids. Most joints permit motion, including rolling, gliding, spinning, and swinging. Like other body parts, joints require maintenance, consistent usage, and consideration to preserve their function.

Nevertheless, joints naturally deteriorate over time, and several other factors can contribute to developing joint issues that can cause pain, stiffness, and swelling, reducing mobility, comfort, and your ability to complete daily activities.

Common Joint Conditions

Many people are negatively affected by joint issues at some point in their lives. In fact, between 2013 and 2015, an average of over 54.4 million adults were diagnosed with arthritis in the United States. Unfortunately, arthritis is not the only disorder that affects joint health. Some examples of common joint conditions are:

• Bursitis – This affliction occurs when the bursae, fluid-filled sacs surrounding joints, become inflamed. Reduced cushioning and lubrication lead to pain, swelling, and limited mobility.
• Degenerative joint and bone diseases – Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease, affecting 528 million people worldwide. As joints deteriorate, they impair mobility and cause pain, inflammation, and rigidity.
• Dislocations – If bones are forced out of alignment, it can damage the joint and surrounding tissues, causing severe pain and immobility.
• Fractures and breaks – When bones develop fissures, they can obstruct the alignment and stability of joints, affecting their function and mobility while delivering additional pain.
• Gout – This type of arthritis is usually incited by the accumulation of uric acid crystals and is characterized by abrupt, intense flare-ups of joint pain, redness, and swelling.
• Osteoporosis – People with this disorder have weakened bones, which can raise the risk of fractures near joints and indirectly impact joint health.
• Overuse injuries – If bodies are overworked, they can develop conditions like tendinitis, which is the inflammation of tendons that secure muscles to bones—it can cause immense discomfort in joints’ connective tissues.
• Rheumatic disorders – Rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis are common inflammatory conditions that affect the body’s joints, tendons, muscles, ligaments, and bones.
• Sprains and strains – Sprains are injuries to the ligaments in a joint, while strains are injuries to muscles and tendons—both are caused by overstretching or tearing the connective tissue, which can hinder joint health.

Anyone can develop joint conditions, including the examples listed above. However, certain factors can increase a person’s risk of having joint issues.

Contributing Factors to Joint Issues

Certain circumstances and traits can make a person more susceptible to joint issues. Some examples of factors that can increase the risk of developing joint problems are:

• Age – Progressive joint wear and tear caused by aging can deteriorate cartilage and raise the risk of joint stiffness and pain.
• Body alignment – Maintaining good posture helps to transfer forces equally across joints, lowering strain and the chance of misalignment or injury to the joints.
• Body weight – Being overweight stresses weight-bearing joints like the knees and hips, hastening their deterioration and raising the risk of diseases like osteoarthritis.
• Diet – Eating nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids aids joint health by sustaining strong bones. Plus, some inflammatory foods can cause joint pain and should be avoided.
• Fluid intake – Staying well-hydrated lowers the likelihood of stiffness and improves joint function by maintaining joint lubrication and flexibility.
• Frequency of physical activity – Consistent physical activity lowers the risk of injury and improves overall joint health by strengthening the muscles around joints, increasing flexibility, and promoting joint stability.
• Genetic factors – Genetic predispositions can increase a person’s vulnerability to illnesses like arthritis, which affects joint structure and function.
• Medical conditions – Arthritis, osteoporosis, and other illnesses can wreak havoc on joint function by causing damage, misalignment, and inflammation.
• Muscle strength – Well-developed muscles support and stabilize joints, helping ease stress and maintain alignment.
• Previous injuries – Past trauma can affect long-term joint health, especially if the injury heals improperly, causing instability, stiffness, or increased vulnerability to future injuries.

If left unaddressed, the variables above may raise your risk of acquiring a persistent mobility problem. By eating a healthy diet, staying hydrated, regularly working out, and paying attention to your aging body, you can prevent common mobility problems.

Natural Strategies To Improve Joint Health

Thankfully, several natural strategies can help preserve your joint health. Still, you should build an individualized treatment plan with a joint specialist to ensure your approaches are tailored to your unique situation. Your medical provider may recommend some of the following ten strategies.

1. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Excess weight adds pressure to your joints, especially your knees and hips, which support most of your weight. With the extra weight-induced stress, joints can break down quickly and cause chronic joint problems.

If you are overweight, you should ask your medical provider about healthy weight loss options, such as exercising and dieting, to alleviate the force applied to your musculoskeletal system and reduce the risk of joint issues.

2. Exercise Regularly

In addition to helping you maintain a healthy weight, routine exercise can strengthen the muscles surrounding your joints, stabilizing them and steadying your movements. Plus, many workouts can improve flexibility and your range of motion.

However, high-impact exercises can do more harm than good. Intense activities like running or sports like basketball can cause pain by sending abrupt shockwaves to your joints. A joint specialist can recommend low-impact exercises that are comfortable and less likely to exacerbate symptoms, such as cycling, swimming, and walking.

3. Daily Stretches

Regular stretching can keep muscles and joints more flexible, reducing stiffness. Additionally, stretching may improve blood flow, which can help control inflammation and give you more mobility. Your medical professional can help you tailor your stretch routine to target your affected joints. For example, the joint specialist may suggest knee lifts and double hip rotation stretches for hip pain.

4. Incorporate Strength Training

Strength training is an excellent way to build muscle. Regularly performing resistance training can increase muscle mass around your joints to better hold them in place and facilitate movement.

Working out with too heavy weights can put unnecessary strain on your joints. Have a qualified medical professional build a workout plan that works well for your specific joint issue.

5. Consume a Balanced Diet

Eat a balanced diet that includes healthy fats, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables to supply your body with essential nutrients for joint health, such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Your medical provider can assess your diet and recommend changes that could provide more efficient nourishment that can improve joint health.

6. Prioritize Hydration

Joints contain approximately 80% water, making hydration incredibly important. Drinking adequate amounts of water helps keep your joints well-lubricated, which helps reduce friction, cushion your bones, and provide smoother movement. Most medical professionals will be able to gauge how much water you should drink daily by assessing features like your weight, height, and gender.

7. Maintain Proper Posture

By maintaining ideal body alignment, you can reduce stress on muscles, joints, and ligaments. Proper posture requires you to position your head, shoulders, spine, and hips in a balanced manner. Put your shoulders back, open your chest, and engage your abdomen to preserve your spine’s natural curvature and allow for efficient movement, lowering the chance of musculoskeletal pain or injury.

If necessary, a joint specialist may be able to help you address underlying musculoskeletal issues that can make it challenging to maintain proper posture.

8. Utilize Proper Techniques and Protective Gear

Without the proper education, people can perform exercises incorrectly, injuring their joints and other parts of their bodies. Knowing the proper techniques for each workout is essential to minimizing the risk of damaging your body.

Moreover, wearing protective gear during sports or activities that can affect your joints is important. Whether you are a skater or a handyman who works kneeling down, knee pads can help you safeguard your knees.

A qualified medical professional can provide insight into proper workout techniques and recommend protective gear for activities that you regularly perform.

9. Avoid Overuse

Although joints naturally deteriorate as you age, you should avoid overuse to preserve your joints’ functions as long as possible. Take it slow and steer clear of repetitive motions, which can overstress joints and cause gradual wear and tear when engaging in physical activity. Joint specialists should be able to help adapt your lifestyle to avoid overuse injuries.

10. Listen To Your Body

Most importantly, you should always pay attention to what you feel throughout your body. If you encounter chronic or worsening symptoms, report joint pain, swelling, or stiffness to a trustworthy medical professional. Early detection and prompt action can help you maintain joint function and prevent further injury.

An experienced joint specialist will be able to help you diagnose and treat your joint problems in the most effective way possible. The professional may help you build an exercise plan, suggest lifestyle changes, or recommend alternative therapies like PEMF therapy, which involves using electromagnetic pulses to relieve pain and reduce swelling. Still, joint surgeries can be better than non-surgical options in some cases.

Improve Your Joint Health With JRCS

Countless conditions, such as arthritis, bursitis, and bone fractures, can jeopardize joint health. Moreover, factors like age and nutritional status can contribute to developing joint problems. Before resorting to surgical intervention, some people can try natural strategies to mitigate their joint issues. Maintaining proper posture and healthy weight while doing routine exercises, regular stretches, and strength training can help you retain healthy joints.

The Joint Replacement Center of Scottsdale can diagnose your joint problems, show you how to improve joint health naturally, and build a treatment plan that is tailored to you. Our reliable joint specialists are experienced in various forms of therapy, including PEMF and ARPwave. We can also perform minimally invasive surgeries that offer shorter recovery periods than traditional methods by using Mako SmartRobotics.

Schedule a consultation to develop a customized treatment plan for your joint problems.