Can Our Lifestyle Choices Really Increase or Decrease Our Chances of Developing Arthritis?
To be able to successfully answer whether a person’s lifestyle can truly affect their chances of getting arthritis later, we will first need to properly understand what arthritis is. There are several types of arthritis and some of them are vastly different in their origin than what most of us believe. Let’s get started with a basic understanding of the term.
Arthritis: What is It?
Understanding about what arthritis is: arthritis is a very general term that indicates suffering caused by one or more conditions which cause painful joint inflammations in patients. Most arthritic patients are affected by osteoarthritis, especially if the patient is past his/her mid-forties. The second most common type is an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis, which generally affects 40 to 50-year-olds but it can also affect people much younger than that. Other forms of arthritis such as psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and reactive arthritis are not the most common types to affect people, but they are not entirely rare either.
Can a Good Lifestyle Lead to Better Joint Health?
Now that we have a basic understanding about what arthritis is, the titular question can be answered with better clarity. Yes, lifestyle choices really can have a profound impact on our chances of developing, delaying, or even avoiding certain types of arthritis. There are also medicines for arthritis that can help. At the same time, that isn’t always applicable. For example, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a mystery and exhibits symptoms quite similar to osteoarthritis. Given that children are too young to get the degenerative joint disease, their lifestyle choices are irrelevant here.
Barring such exceptions though, most types of arthritic conditions can be delayed, lessened, or avoided to at least some degree by making informed lifestyle choices. Informed is the keyword, awareness from an early age is crucial. For those who are at higher risk or have already started feeling mild symptoms, then contact a lawrenceville pain management clinic, or one in other areas, to get advice on how to manage this condition. They can create personalized care plans to target your pain. With the goal of spreading awareness, here’s a small introduction to how lifestyle choices can affect the onset and intensity of arthritic conditions.
Exercise and Arthritis Prevention: Positive Relationship
Exercise and osteoarthritis prevention do not always share a positive relationship unfortunately, but we will get to that later. First, it is far more important to understand how exercise can:
- Prevent osteoarthritis
- Delay the onset of osteoarthritis
- Slow down joint degeneration
- Lessen the intensity of pain and swelling caused by arthritis
As we age, we tend to lose our bone density and muscle mass. Our bodies also become more susceptible to fat gain. All these three factors are reasons responsible for inducing and worsening age-related joint degeneration, aka osteoarthritis. Joints in an aging, weakening body which is already susceptible to being overweight will naturally degrade much faster if allowed.
Exercise and complementary diet routines carefully created for the individual in question can actively help with the following:
- Gaining more muscle mass to prevent muscle loss
- Reducing fat and maintaining a healthy weight, thus reducing stress from the joints
- Improving bone density, which counters age-related bone loss
Functional exercise also keeps arthritic joints from freezing, which is common in among the aged who already have arthritis.
Exercise and Arthritis Prevention: Negative Relationship
On the flipside, stress and sport injuries are also a very common cause behind people developing arthritic joints. This is a common issue with pro athletes as they get injured often throughout their respective careers. However, professional athletes have dedicated medical experts tending to them at all times. They are diagnosed and provided orthopaedic treatment and surgery, as and when necessary.
An active individual who isn’t exactly a professional athlete, on the other hand, may suffer from multiple joint injuries, never even realising how they will affect their future life without timely orthopaedic treatment. If you have any lingering injuries or joint pain of any sort, pay a visit to this page on orthopaedic treatment by the Circle Health Group. The information there will help you understand how timely orthopaedic surgery can help with most forms of arthritic pain. You should also be able to book an appointment with one of their leading orthopaedists for a consultation from the website itself.
Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Is there a Relationship?
Smoking might be a trigger for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as no links have been established beyond doubt to suggest otherwise. However, there is a correlation found in some studies that suggest the odds of smoking being a trigger for RA are significantly higher than the habit being neutral to the condition. Genetic susceptibility to autoimmune diseases is an established factor for RA, while hormonal imbalances may also trigger the condition in some instances.
Arthritis cannot always be prevented by leading even the healthiest lifestyle, but its impact can certainly be lessened in most cases. It would be proper to conclude that leading a healthy, active lifestyle and treating injuries before they can become a permanent cause for pain and concern are the two most effective methods to decrease our chances of suffering from joint inflammations and pain in the future.
