Use It or Lose It: How to Keep Your Joints Healthy

By Donna Kostiew

I’m guilty. Guilty of using expressions that are probably no longer relevant and make very little sense to some of the people around me. When debit cards first came out in the region where I lived, they were called MAC cards, and when you needed to get money from the machine, you would often say "I have to tap the MAC." Well, I said that last week … to my 13-year-old … and I am sure you can imagine the face she made at me after asking what in the world I was talking about. There are other sayings that I grew up on too, such as: "look before you leap," "don’t count your chickens before they hatch," and aa penny saved is a penny earned." Unlike the MAC card though, these old adages can still be heard today, but the one I want to talk about is "use it before you lose it."

We often use that term in regards to some of the problems we experience with aging. As we get older, many of us will experience a reduction in mobility and suffer from decreased joint function. It happens slowly. We start to wake up with stiff joints, or it takes us a longer time to recover after sitting for an extended period of time. The obvious joints that are usually affected are the knees, hips, and elbows, but just as important as those are the joints of the spine. Chiropractors help to keep spinal joints functioning as optimally as possible, but they can’t do all the work alone.

How to Age 'With Health'

It’s important to keep your joints healthy and the following suggestions can help reduce the stiffness and pain you may be experiencing.

• Get moving
• Consider low-impact exercises for less stress on your joints
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Build core strength
• Don’t forget your Vitamin D and calcium
• Incorporate a balanced diet into each day

Doing something is better than doing nothing at all, and since there are so many options available to help you create a healthy lifestyle, it should be quite easy to find some amount of success with it. Your local chiropractor can be instrumental during this process because they can help you feel good, stay healthy, and improve the function of your joints so that you can continue to remain active doing the things you love to do. Has it been awhile since your last visit to The Joint Chiropractic? If it has, keep in mind that the benefits of chiropractic care far surpass the reduction of daily aches and pains. So even though you will receive some much-needed relief from those, you will also receive the experience and knowledge that your chiropractor has on nutrition, stretching and exercise, and general health and wellness.

To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Phoenix, Ariz.