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Prevent knee pain by keeping the muscles that support your knees strong and flexible. Start out slowly. Walk before you run before you engage in a strenuous high impact activity such as jogging or running, try walking for a week. If walking causes knee pain, you shouldn’t be running. Warm up and stretch before working out. Give your body a chance to recover from exercise. If you do high impact activities take every other day off. Avoid running up and down stairs and full squats. Doing knee exercises to strengthen and stretch the muscles that support the knee are vital for knee pain and injury prevention. Proper footwear is also important, especially if walking or running on hard surfaces. Keep your weight under control. Reducing one’s weight reduces stress upon the knee.

If Osteoarthritis runs in the family, the best preventive measure would be to follow a healthy lifestyle and a regular exercise program. This will help slow the onset of the disease by strengthening muscles around arthritic joints. Consult a doctor or work with a physical therapist to design an exercise program suited to your body weight and medical condition. Walking is the best exercise, and riding a stationary exercise bicycle or doing aquatic exercises is also helpful. Another option is tai chi for strengthening and relaxation techniques and improving balance. Exercise should be done in moderation and you should consult a doctor if you experience excessive pain.

For Osteoarthritis patients, obesity is a major cause of worry. Along with age, any excess weight puts added stress on back, hips and knee joints and makes joint surgery risky. A healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains helps in controlling weight and also in effective treatment of Osteoarthritis. Another way to prevent further worsening of Osteoarthritis is appropriate footwear for walking, exercising, and evening wear that will put less strain on your weight-bearing joints or back.

Osteoarthritis affects the activities of everyday life. To cope with increasing demands on the body, we need to practice relaxation techniques or yoga and meditation to develop a positive attitude. Even if you cannot prevent Osteoarthritis, it is a good idea to learn the limits of your body so that you can modify your lifestyle to avoid unnecessary pain.

Prevention Tips:

1. Ask for help. Don’t try to do a job that is too big for you to handle. Get another pair of hands to help out.

2. Wear proper safety equipment. Don’t leave helmets and wrist pads at home. Make sure you get safety gear that is comfortable and fits appropriately.

3. Forget the weekend warrior. Don’t engage in activities your body for which your body isn’t prepared. Start new activities slowly and safely until you know how your body will react to them. This will reduce the chance of injury.

4. Don’t be static. Changing positions regularly will decrease the stiffness in your muscles and joints.

5. Listen to your body. If you are in pain, don’t ignore it. Pain after activity or exercise can be an indication that you have overstressed your joints.

6. Pace yourself. Alternate periods of heavy activity with periods of rest. Repetitive stress on joints for long periods of time can accelerate the wear and tear that causes OA.

7. Use the big joints. When lifting or carrying, use largest and strongest joints and muscles. This will help you avoid injury and strain on your smaller joints.

8. Stand up straight. Good posture protects the joints in your neck, back, hips and knees.

9. Move your body. Exercise protects joints by strengthening the muscles around them. Strong muscles keep your joints from rubbing against one another, wearing down cartilage. We can help you get started on an exercise program that works for you.

10. Maintain your ideal body weight. The more you weigh, the more stress you are putting on your joints, especially your hips, knees, back and feet.

The most effective osteoarthritis prevention technique is to combine regular exercise with weight loss. Maintaining an ideal body weight for your size and giving your body regular activity is very important for countless aspects of your health. Exercise and weight loss can not only help prevent osteoarthritis and other problems, but they can also aid in restoring motion and function and even decrease existing aches and pains.

People who have knee injuries as children or young adults are at an increased risk for developing osteoarthritis, so if you fall into this category, following these prevention tips is even more important. Physical therapy and knee braces should be used if necessary, and excessive strain should be avoided.