Tips for Strengthening Your Joints as You Age
As you get older, your joints can become stiffer, inflamed, and all-around more painful. While you cannot avoid wear-and-tear, you can take some preventative steps to keep your joints healthy and strong as you age. Here are four tips we have on how to strengthen your joints as you get older.
Get Plenty of Vitamin D
Arthritis can develop as early as your 30's. It is a progressive condition that causes destruction around the joints, leading to stiffness, pain, and inflammation. One of the easiest ways to combat arthritis is by getting enough Vitamin D.
Truth is, you're never too young to start supplementing your Vitamin D intake. Studies indicate that people - predominantly women - are at risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to a D deficiency. A deficiency can also lead to osteoporosis.
Vitamin D can be taken in from the sunshine, from eating D-rich foods, and from taking D3 supplements.
Try CBD Products
CBD oil products have been known to target arthritis symptoms. Using a 2000mg CBD full spectrum pain cream can reduce swelling around the joints and open up more flexibility. Studies show that CBD is a safe treatment option for joint pain and that it is effective. CBD has anti-inflammatory properties that, when introduced to the body's own endocannabinoid system, reduce inflammation.
CBD can take effect in about 15-45 minutes, and you can choose to take it as a topical cream, roll-on, tincture, gummies, or capsule. CBD oil can even be made into food and drinks.
Do Yoga
You might not be able to do much vigorous exercise with painful joints, but one type of exercise that can really help is yoga. Yoga involves grounding yourself, learning to be in tune with your body, and gently working out aches and pains through step-by-step stretches.
Iyengar yoga has been particularly noted for its effects on arthritis. It emphasizes structural alignment of the body through asanas. It involves using props to help you with your stretches and relies heavily on sequential structuring of a pose. That means you can learn beginner poses and work your way into more complex ones. Inyengar is not as upbeat as Vinyasa yoga, but you will still burn calories while gently stretching your muscles and allowing your joints to loosen up.
Manage Your Weight
Obesity and joint pain seem to go hand-in-hand. Obesity contributes to osteoarthritis and soft tissue damage around the joints. The more you weigh, the more weight your joints have to try to carry.
Managing your weight is essential as you get older. Eating less sugar-laden products and opting instead for nutrient-rich fruit and veggies is ideal. What's more, upping your water intake can keep your body hydrated as you digest your food and convert that into energy.
Your joints - and you - will age; that is a given. What you have control over is what you do right now to strengthen those joints. Getting enough Vitamin D, doing gentle exercises like yoga, staying hydrated, and eating appropriately can make a difference. When those aches and pains do come, using a CBD product can add some relief.