Joined For Life!
by Jacqueline Larsen <http://www.insightsandlessons.com/bio/jacqueline.larsen>

One of the keys to living a strong, healthy life is keeping your joints healthy and strong.

As we age, some of us lose our hair, and maybe even our eyesight. But your joints stay with you to the end of your life. And if you take care of them, you may be able to walk or even run into your later years with ease.

A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. They are designed to allow movement and provide mechanical support through your entire skeletal system. Ligaments are bands of cordlike tissue that connect bone to bone, and tendons are fibrous cords that connect muscle to bone. Cartilage is a rubbery, fibrous, dense connective tissue--harder than ligaments and softer than bone--is usually found between bones, and permits smooth movement of joints.

Joint health depends on many factors, including the interplay of body weight, flexibility, strength, genetics, injury and overuse. The more joints move, the stronger the protective muscles around them become.

Joints may cause different problems at different points in our lives. Younger people experience joint pain linked to athletics, where older people are more prone to thinning and breakdown of cartilage between bones causing joint pain.

There are three main problems that cause common joint pain in athletes and older adults, all of which end in the suffix “itis,” meaning “inflammation of,” according to the American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Arthritis
Arthritis is defined as inflammation of joints causing pain, swelling and stiffness.

The two most common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear of the joints, characterized by a deterioration of the cartilage at the ends of the bones. The once smooth cartilage becomes rough, causing increasing friction and pain.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder in which your own body mistakenly attacks healthy tissue, causing inflammation and damage to your joints.

Bursitis
There are small fluid-filled sacks in our joints called bursae. The bursae’s job is to assist in the muscle/joints movement by cushioning the joints and bones against friction. If these sacks become inflamed and/or injured, a chronic pain called bursitis can result.

Tendonitis
Tendonitis is probably the most common cause of pain in athletes, and is fortunately the easiest to treat. Tendonitis means the tendons around a joint have become severely inflamed from overuse or micro injury.

In order to keep your joints operating at their peak, keep these 10 suggestions in mind:

1. Maintain your ideal body weight
Every extra pound puts four times the stress on your knees and other weight-bearing joints. Reducing your weight reduces the weight they must support, and decreases pain significantly.

Exercise, including cardio, flexibility and strength training will burn excess calories. Many people have a hard time associating alleviating joint pain through exercise. But research has shown that exercise is an essential tool in managing your pain. Exercise reduces joint pain and stiffness, builds strong muscle around the joints, and increases flexibility and endurance.

2. Build Strong Bones
A diet of bone-building, healthy food is essential. Eat food rich in calcium to keep your bones sturdy, including leafy greens, salmon, broccoli and low-fat yogurt. Eat oranges and drink orange juice for vitamin C and other antioxidants, reducing your risk of osteoarthritis. Stay away from excessive caffeine intake--studies show that too much caffeine can weaken your bones.

3. Stretching & Warming Up
It is important for everyone, not just athletes, to take regular stretching breaks throughout the day so that muscles and ligaments stay strong and flexible.

Before you begin any exercise, you should always warm up your muscles first. Think of your muscles like kids’ play dough—when it comes out of the container it crumbles and resists attempts to change its form. But after you’ve warmed it up, it becomes pliable and easy to work with.

Therefore, working out with cold muscles can cause pain in joints and muscles. Movement literally warms up the muscles and reduces the risk of injury.

4. Check up with your doctor
See your physician for a routine check-up at lease once a year, and request an examination of your joints.

5. Pay attention to your posture
Whether you’re sitting or standing, you should be mindful of the joints in your neck, back, hips and knees. Research suggests that many spine problems are preventable because they result from poor posture and body mechanics, which subject the spine to abnormal stresses. These abnormal stresses over time can lead to structural changes in the spine, including degeneration of disks and joints, lengthening or shortening of the supportive ligaments and muscles, and wear and tear of cartilage.

6. Use good technique
When lifting light or heavy objects, using proper technique and/or equipment will prevent injury and fatigue. Lift with your legs, not with your back!

7. Rest
Medical research confirms that sleep helps your heart, arteries, blood sugar, immune system, skin and of course, your joints. Most everyone should be getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep daily to be fully rested.

Our bodies depend on the sleep cycle in order to rest and repair. During the day as you go about your activities, thinking, working and moving around, your muscles are in a constant state of activity.

But the body also needs to rest. When you are asleep, blood circulates through your tired muscles bringing in fresh supplies of oxygen and glucose, rejuvenating them so that they can return to work when you wake up.

8. Hydrate
Water is your body’s principal chemical component, making up about 60 percent of your weight. Every system in your body depends on water to do everything from flushing toxins out of vital organs, carrying nutrients to your cells, to keeping your sinuses moist. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

9. Pay attention to pain
If a joint hurts after an activity, you may have overstressed it. Long-term, repetitive joint stress can accelerate joint wear and tear. Consult your doctor immediately if you suspect you’ve sustained an injury.

10. Be supplement savvy
Clinical studies have shown that certain dietary ingredients may help to improve joint flexibility and mobility.
• Glucosamine Sulfate is a natural component of joint cartilage and supports healthy joint function. It is an amino sugar used to create cushioning fluids and tissues around joints. It repairs damaged arthritic joints, reduces pain, and builds synovial fluids.
• Chondroitin Sulfate provides dietary support for healthy joints and bones. It stimulates the secretion of joint fluid & increases viscosity. It also absorbs the enzymes which naturally break down joints, it has a powerful anti-inflammatory action on connective tissue diseases, and has the ability to regulate the immune response.
• SAMe (s-Adenosyl-L-Methionine), a natural substance found in every cell of your body. Research shows that it plays an important role in cartilage formation and repair by increasing the blood levels of proteoglycans, the starting point of cartilage formation, and has also been shown in a number of studies to bring arthritis pain relief.
• MSM (Methylsulfonyl-methane) is a naturally occurring sulfur compound found in fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, fish, and grains, and in the body, is found in connective tissues and joint cartilage.
• GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) is an important omega-6 oil, which supports healthy joint function through its anti-inflammatory properties.
• Fish Oils provide dietary support for healthy joints, as its is useful as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Your joints depend on you to take care of them, and they’ll take care of your for the rest of your life. The better you treat them, the better off you’ll be.