Welcome to this comprehensive guide to keeping your joints healthy! In this blog we will cover the role that joints play in the body’s structure and why it’s important to look after them, common causes of joint pain and how to avoid them, and how diet and supplements can play a key role in strengthening and protecting your joints into the future.
Joints are a structural component of your musculoskeletal system and form a connection point between two bones. The joints are composed of different materials, including bones, cartilage, ligaments and tendons, as well as specialised sacs and tissues that help to lubricate the joints. Throughout your lifetime, your joints change and grow along with the rest of the musculoskeletal system, and they do a lot of work to keep your body supple and flexible.
Common Causes of Joint Pain
As with any other aspect of the musculoskeletal system, there are various reasons why joints can malfunction and lead to inflammation and pain, including injury, arthritis and overuse. Such issues can become chronic over time, affecting one’s quality of life.
- Overuse
People working in certain industries who perform repetitive daily movements such as typing at a computer, hairdressing, working at an assembly line etc, are more prone to joint pain because these activities can cause wear and tear to the joints over time.
Repetitive Strain Injury can cause pain at the site of the joints, plus swelling and even numbness and tingling. Additionally poor posture while carrying out these activities can also create compression in the joints and nerves.
- Injury
Different kinds of physical activity can affect the joints. You may injure the joint through direct impact on a bone or tendon, ligaments and muscles. Sprains are stretched or torn ligaments around the joint and strains are stretched or torn muscles or tendons.
You may also experience joint pain when it is ‘referred’ along a nerve from another part of the body – for example an injury to the spine can cause referred pain in the knee.
- Arthritis
There are different types of arthritis that can affect the joints, causing pain and stiffness: osteoarthritis is the most common type in the UK and is caused by wear and tear to the joints. In addition to the hip, knee and hands, joints in the spine can also be affected.
Rheumatoid arthritis is another chronic condition that affects the joints, and affects around 400,000 people in the UK. It is autoimmune in nature and causes pain, swelling and stiffness, and is often worse in the morning.
Lifestyle Changes to Promote Joint Health
As with any other functional issue that affects the musculoskeletal system, making healthy lifestyle changes can be instrumental in protecting joints and keeping them in optimal condition. Certain lifestyle issues can influence joints to be more prone to injury or inflammation, such as being overweight, having poor posture, being inactive or straining joints through repetitive motion.
It is important to maintain a healthy weight to prevent excess wear and tear on your joints, which can lead to chronic inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. Losing weight can take the pressure off compressed joints and nerves. If you are able to exercise, try some of the following exercise tips:
Exercises for Joint Health
- Regular weight-bearing exercise can help to stabilise and strengthen your joints, as well as build up the musculature that holds the body’s structure together. Low-impact exercises such as yoga and pilates can encourage greater flexibility and range of motion.
- Swimming can also be helpful for gently exercising muscles and joints in a safe non-weight bearing context, as 90% of your body weight is supported by water.
- It’s a good idea to develop your core strength with exercises like side planks or curl ups, which can be done easily at home. If you are suffering from RSI there are specific stretches and exercises you can do to bring relief to compressed nerves and inflamed joints. For example if you experience pain while typing, you can bring your hands together in the prayer position and push them together to apply gentle downward pressure to the wrists.
Diet and Supplements for Joint Health
If you want to protect your joint health, especially if you are prone to an autoimmune joint condition, you may want to pursue an anti-inflammatory diet.
This is one that is high in fresh, unprocessed foods such as fruits and vegetables, meat and fish. If you have gut or digestive sensitivities regarding grains, legumes or dairy then this can cause ‘leaky gut’ and pain and inflammation in joints.
- Good foods and supplements for better digestion
It can also be a good idea to try and improve the digestive terrain through bile-promoting and probiotic foods, which can foster the beneficial microflora. In addition it can be helpful to take supplements such as bovine collagen or marine collagen, which are proteins high in anti-inflammatory amino acids that promote tissue repair inside the gut as well as in muscles and joints.
It’s also a good idea to limit fried foods which produce inflammatory byproducts, as well as alcohol, which has a dehydrating effect.
- Vitamins and minerals
If you are looking for specific nutrients that are essential for healthy joints, then it is a good idea to add foods high in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish, walnuts, and ground flaxseed and chia seeds.
Omega 3 can help with symptoms such as inflammation, morning stiffness and even blood flow.
Vitamin D from natural sunlight is also important, as this can help with chronic pain. In fact several studies have shown that people with low vitamin D levels are more likely to develop pain in their hip and knee joints, as well as be more prone to rheumatoid arthritis.
Finally vitamin K2 can be an important addition to your supplement regime, as it helps to keep calcium in bones and teeth rather than the soft tissue, preventing joint calcification.
Finally some people may benefit from two key supplements associated with joint health such as glucosamine and chondroitin: these two compounds are found in healthy cartilage.
Planet Paleo’s Active Collagen is a great source of anti-inflammatory nutrients and compounds such as collagen, vitamin C, MSM and glucosamine that can help nourish and repair joints and cartilage.
When to Seek Medical Attention
Most often joint pain is rarely an emergency and can be managed at home.
However, if you develop joint pain out of the blue or sustain an injury that is accompanied by swelling, tenderness, warmth, or intense pain, then it is important to seek medical attention from a qualified practitioner as soon as possible.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while your joints may not be top of your health priority list, they help to keep the body strong, flexible and stable, so it’s a good idea to take preventative action to protect them through targeted exercise and a nutrient-dense diet, as described above.
Always warm up and down when you have done exercise, stretching out to help prevent compression and stress on muscles, bones and joints. Don’t forget to check out our great range of targeted grass-fed collagen blends, including Active Collagen for extra joint support.