Know About Your Joint And Bone Health

Q. How can we keep our Bones and Joints Healthy?
A. Two most important things that help in preserving our Joints are Regular exercises and maintaining a healthy weight. Regular exercises keep the bones strong and muscle toned, which in turn prevent injuries and improve function of joints. In addition a balanced and nutritious diet rich in protein and calcium improves bone strength.

Q. What type of physical activity or exercises is preferred for healthy joints?
A. Exercise program should include a mixture of aerobic exercises (e.g. stretching and gentle strengthening) and stamina building exercises (e.g. running, swimming etc.). If someone is already suffering from joint pains, it is preferable to consult a specialist and one should avoid specific exercises that aggravate pain or risk injury to involved joint.

Q. Which exercise is better swimming, running or cycling?
A. Knees are the commonest affected joints in adult population. As a general suggestion and as far as knees are concerned swimming is the best exercise, followed by cycling, brisk walking and running in this order of preference.

Q. Does running damage knees?
A. It is difficult to give a strong recommendation, but the current data suggests that a moderate level of running doesn’t increase the risk of osteoarthritis of Knees in otherwise healthy individuals.  A word of caution for individuals with history of injury – from earlier trauma or overuse, unstable knee or those who are over weight, as running with these known risk factors may accelerate the onset of osteoarthritis.

Q. What is treatment of multiple joint pains?
A. Multiple joint pains can be because of numerous reasons. An active life style and nutritious diet can help. It is important to identify inflammatory arthritis like Rheumatoid arthritis that may present with multiple joint pain and stiffness in young adults. Early diagnosis and treatment can help in slowing the progress of arthritis and maintain function in Rheumatoid arthritis.