How to Maintain your Bone and Joint Health as You Age

As maturing schemes to wear down your bone and joint health, specialists explain what you can do to keep up these through each period of life:
 

Start Early

Start preserving your bone and joint health in childhood. Physical movement is imperative for loading the bones and strengthening them. It is important for parents to ensure that the milk that will provide calcium for their growing years, will not be replaced by sodas or soft drinks. What’s more, it’s never too early to discourage smoking; if an adolescent is smoking they won’t be able to get the maximum bone mass. Studies have shown that smokers have smaller skeleton and less bone mass, compared to a nonsmoker.

The adolescent stage is the time when the human skeleton is rapidly growing and during this time, there is an increased need for calcium. Because of this increased need for calcium, it may cause thinning in sensitive wrist bones. So when these children fall, they easily fracture their wrist.

If fractures happens in minor injuries, that is a sign children have skeletal deformities related to low bone mass. Furthermore, that low bone mass tracks into young adulthood.

Challenges for young adults

Maximum bone mass is achieved in the late 20’s up to mid-30’s. During these times, schooling and careers can disrupt the health and exercise regimens needed for achieving this, even if you are physically active when you are younger.

Another thing is a change in diet for young adults. Consuming soda and coffee should be limited especially when you have low-calcium intakes. It is important to drink more water. In addition, excessive alcohol consumption can affect bone health negatively. If you can’t cover the daily recommended calcium intake needed based on your age, you need to add more calcium-rich foods in your daily diet and consider taking a calcium supplement.

Limit the amount of processed and fast foods you are consuming. They have a tendency to be higher in sodium and sugar and sparse on vegetables. Furthermore, as with alcohol consumption, they can lead to weight gain.

Remaining dynamic isn’t always simple. Make a plan and invest more time in your exercise routine and staying active. In the working environment, advancements like standing desks let employees sit less.

 

Preserve bone mass in midlife

A Critical period for bone and joint health is middle age. Calcium requirements for post-menopausal women increase from 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams after 50. However, calorie necessities don’t increase and at this stage the metabolism slows down and can lead to weight gain. There is a need for women to pay extra attention to maintain their fitness at this stage.

Muscle exercises help protect the joints they support, which is vital when arthritis appears in middle age.

For women, obviously, the menopausal change is the point at which you truly begin quickening bone loss as a result of the hormonal level variances. Men also encounter hormonal changes, with both testosterone and estrogen, yet their bone loss is slower and less marked.

Preventing Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in the density of bone, decreasing its strength and resulting in fragile bones1. The National Osteoporosis Foundation offers guidelines for when individuals need to take a bone-density test (DEXA scan) in view of their age, sex and risk factors – like family history, smoking and certain medications.

Bone mass gained during youth is an essential determinant of the risk of osteoporosis during later life. Higher peak of bone mass means lower risk of osteoporosis.

When peak bone mass has been achieved, it is kept up by a process called remodeling. This is a consistent process in which old bone is expelled (resorption) and new bone is made (development). The restoration of bone is in charge of bone quality all through life.

Bone formation is more imperative than bone resorption during childhood and the beginning of adulthood. However, in middle age, the rate of bone resorption is greater than the rate of bone development and results in bone mass loss or thinning of your bones.

Any factor which causes a higher rate of bone remodeling will eventually lead to a more quick loss of bone mass and weaker bones. The nutritious and way of life guidance for building solid bones in youth is similarly as appropriate to adults too.

To keep bones healthy adults should:

  • Make sure to eat a nutritious diet and sufficient calcium intake.

  • Avoid malnutrition

  • Maintain sufficient supply of Vitamin D

  • Engage in regular balanced weight bearing exercise.

  • Do not smoke and avoid second-hand smoking

  • Avoid excessive drinking

Our joints are generally fine when we are in our 30’s and 40’s. The thought of arthritis may be the furthest from our minds, but we should be aware because at this age it may have already started to form and advance.

To maintain joint health, preventive measures we can take are:

  1. Losing weight to Lessen the Stress on Joints. Additional pounds are awful on joints: They increase the weight on them, and have a damaging metabolic impact. When you are overweight or obese, balance between buildup and breakdown of cartilage disrupts, which means the degradation of cartilage is more rapid than the recuperating process to renew it. The result is a net loss, after some time, progresses toward osteoarthritis.

  2. Doing exercise that doesn’t harm joints. That incorporates low-impact biking, swimming, yoga and Pilates, in addition to walking and lifting weights. As long as it’s not stressful. It is also helpful to wear comfortable shoes and walk on relatively plain surfaces.

  3. Paying attention with your biomechanics. How you carry and lift different things, or do physical activities, including playing sports, can have a major effect to the health of your joints. Appropriate mechanics while playing games will do significantly more than enhance your athletic performance. It additionally limits strain on joints from head to toe that can result to osteoarthritis later.

  4. Avoiding and treating injuries properly. Excessively numerous ankle sprains, or inadequate treatment following sprains, can lead you to arthritis in your ankles. What’s more, once you modify the mechanics of your ankles to adjust for that, you can start a process where the mechanics of different joints are additionally modified, through your knees up to your hips, and so on. Along these lines, take care of your injuries, whether to the ankles, knees, or somewhere else.

  5. Eating the right foods and taking supplements for joint health is very helpful. When the moisturizing fluid in the joints lessens, joints became inflamed, irritated and weak. Food and supplements rich in essential fatty acids can naturally lubricate your joints to restore its scope of mobility, quality and strength.

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Lucas Patel

Lucas Patel

Lucas is an avid writer for The Pain-Free Insights Blog. With a wealth of experience, Lucas passionately covers practical tips and insights, to help effectively manage and overcome pain challenges.

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