7 simple ways to protect your joint health

Your joints are vital to staying active and living well, but they often don’t get the attention they deserve until discomfort arises. Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast, someone managing a busy lifestyle, or simply ageing gracefully, taking proactive steps to protect your joints is essential for long-term health. We’ve consulted with experts who explained why protecting joint health is crucial, and have also provided some simple tips and strategies to help keep your joints healthy and functional, allowing you to stay active and pain-free for years to come.

Why it is important to protect our joint health?. What are the consequence if we don’t?. “Without healthy joints, day-to-day activities can become a struggle, and exercise can become prohibitively painful leading to a deterioration in health,” says Macdonald. “We know that movement reduces the risk of life-threatening and life-limiting diseases such as heart disease and cancer, therefore healthy joints play a key role in a longer, and better quality, of life.”.

So, here are 7 easy ways to protect your joint health…. 1. Try strength training. Don’t be afraid of strength training – it’s incredibly beneficial for our bones. “Joints respond well to movement and certain structures within them like cartilage will be healthier if they are compressed regularly,” notes Macdonald. “Strength training is an excellent exercise for joint health, especially if you build the resistance in small increments.

“But, too much too soon will cause injury, so start gently and build slowly.”2. Eat a healthy diet. “The different structures within and surrounding our joints are constantly regenerating, and therefore eating a healthy diet to fuel the creation of new and healthy cells is essential for joint health,” explains Macdonald. “Making sure that you are eating a varied diet, including plenty of vegetables and healthy fats found in nuts, seeds and oily fish will help to ensure you are taking on the vitamins essential for joint health, like vitamin D.”.

3. Protect your posture. “Ideally, you should sit with your knees, hips and elbows at 90-degree angles, with your screen at eye level to avoid strain or injury on the neck or back as well as taking regular exercise and stretching before and after work.”4. Get movingHughes recommends low-impact exercises such as walking, yoga and pilates. “Exercise helps to strengthen joints and their surrounding tissues, avoiding pain and stiffness, in addition to encouraging weight loss,” explains Hughes. “Maintaining a healthy weight is important to reduce load bearing on the joints.”.

5. Stretch to avoid injuries. “Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in the UK, with joint pain a leading symptom,” says Hughes. “Osteoarthritis can sometimes result from an untreated acute joint injury, so it is important to always stretch and warm up before exercise and allow injuries to heal properly so as not to cause long-term damage.”. 6. Break up repetitive tasks. 7. Listen to your body.