Tips for Maintaining Strong Joints


With age comes weaker joints and, according to Cooking Light, there are about 21 million adults living with osteoarthritis. This condition includes achy joints and can even cause pain that may leave your loved one unable to get up from the couch.

There are a number of ways that joints can become weaker as adults age. As you get older, your cartilage starts to get thin, increasing the chances of damage to your joints.

Previous injuries from when a person was younger can lead to achy joints when they are older. Even the smallest of joint injuries can play a major role in the pain your loved one is now suffering.

Loss of muscle mass as well as excess weight can also cause additional stress on the joints and leave your family member feeling weak. Everyone loses some muscle mass as they get older so if your loved one isn’t exercising in order to maintain that muscle then there’s a good change their joints will start to absorb the brunt of the loss.

Excess weight plays a major role in joint pain because it causes joints to have to carry more. One easy way to keep joints in shape is to maintain a healthy weight. By helping keep your loved one’s weight under control, you can prevent their joints from carrying around more than necessary.

Varying exercise is also important if you want to help reduce any stiffness someone may feel in their joints. In-home elder care can help your loved one develop an exercise routine that may include swimming, walking or cycling as well as strengthening exercises.