Standing up, sitting down, walking, climbing stairs, bending over, twisting your hips and then also leisure sports: our everyday life is hard work for the joints. Most of the time, the areas that we strain the most – knees and hips – hurt. These two are literally the sticking point for more than 8.5 million Germans, sooner or later it ends in wear and tear of the articular cartilage. The orthopedist then diagnoses “arthrosis”.
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Dos and don’ts for healthy joints
- Sitting well A wedge cushion relieves the hips and knees. Do not bend your legs under the chair at most, but only at a 90-degree angle. And always stretch out.
- Don’t lift heavy Can’t avoid it: lift from your knees, with a straight back.
- Standing hip-width apart, alternately standing on heels and tiptoes. 100 times a day.
- Avoid squatting At a 90-degree angle, there is immense pressure on the knees.
- Mastering stairs The healthy knee goes first upstairs, the painful one downstairs.
Our joints are sensitive
The disease can affect any of the 100 joints in the body. They all consist of important buffer material – a mix of synovial fluid and cartilage tissue. If both dwindle, it hurts. According to the Berlin Robert Koch Institute, every fourth woman and every sixth man feels this every day. The German Green Cross in Marburg assumes that 20 million Germans have to deal with arthrosis – and that this number will increase drastically in the next few years. Not just in older people.
From the age of 30, creeping wear and tear begins, which is accelerated by sports that put a strain on the joints, such as tennis, jogging, skiing or football. Being overweight also promotes the degenerative disease, because too many kilos compress the joints and promote incorrect loading. Another important development factor is frequent or unhealed injuries. They weaken the joint and the cartilage’s already weak ability to regenerate.
Osteoarthritis can be alleviated
The “start-up pain” is typical of arthrosis: After a break, the first movements are difficult. Even those who are exposed to cold, damp weather or sudden loads – e.g. B. when climbing stairs or doing sports – feels his joints, should go to the orthopedist. Osteoarthritis is often discovered too late. Although the disease is not yet curable, it can be slowed down. Heat treatments, massages, osteopathy, acupuncture and physiotherapy help against the pain. Other measures stimulate the cartilage and cell metabolism, the spectrum ranges from magnetic field therapy to surgical interventions such as abrasion arthroplasty (the surgeon mills the surface of the bone and thus provokes the formation of repairing and protective cartilage tissue).
Sport and a diet rich inTolfioow substances
The be-all and end-all for arthrosis is a balanced diet with low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish , whole grains, raw vegetables and vegetable oils. And, of course, sport that doesn’t put any strain on the joints. Ideal: swimming and cycling. Always keep moving!
You can find exercises for pain-free joints here.
Gentle movement
Exercise is an important building block in the treatment of joint problems and exercise is not generally bad for the joints. On the contrary: Sport strengthens the muscles, improves posture and at the same time increases the mobility of the individual joints. Only strong muscles can effectively stabilize the joints and thus prevent the development of joint problems or slow down the progression of an existing disease. Gentle sports such as swimming, walking, cycling or moderate muscle training so as not to strain the joints. Regular walks or climbing stairs also promote blood circulation and the supply of nutrients to the joints.
Enzymes: Natural help for inflammatory joint problems
Enzymes are the basis of all life, because the proteins control all biochemical reactions in our organism: They regulate all metabolic processes, are involved in digestion or control blood clotting during wound healing. In modern medicine, enzymes are mainly used in the treatment of inflammation. Taking natural enzyme preparations can significantly accelerate the course of inflammatory processes and thus make a decisive contribution to alleviating the symptoms.
Enzyme combination preparations have proven particularly useful for chronic joint inflammation such as arthrosis or injuries such as strains, bruises and sprains.
