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Can You Completely Avoid Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis, often referred to as wear and tear arthritis, is a common joint condition that affects 32.5 million adults in the United States. While it's prevalent, you might wonder if you can evade this degenerative disease entirely.
Double board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine, Bradley A Silva, MD, knows how debilitating osteoarthritis can be, but unfortunately, you can’t avoid it completely.
Read on as the Lakeshore Pain and Spine Center team explores osteoarthritis, its risk factors, and how to reduce your risks.
Learn more about osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis develops in your joints when the cartilage (a connective tissue that acts like a shock absorber) wears down over time, which leads to pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility in your affected joints.
While arthritis can develop in any joint, the World Health Organization shares that the joints most affected by osteoarthritis include:
Regardless of which joint develops arthritis, osteoarthritis causes symptoms such as swollen joints, stiffness, pain, and reduced mobility. Depending on which joint is affected, the impact on your quality of life can vary from mild to severe. Arthritis in your hips, knees, or ankles, for example, can make it hard to walk.
Exploring your risk factors
To understand why you can’t avoid osteoarthritis with certainty, you need to learn your specific risk factors.
Aging is a significant risk factor, but other factors such as genetics, joint injuries, obesity, and repetitive stress can also contribute to its development.
What you can do to reduce your risk of osteoarthritis
While it’s impossible to say you can completely avoid osteoarthritis, there are things you can do to reduce your risk, including:
Weight management
Maintaining a healthy weight through regular exercise and a balanced diet can alleviate stress on your joints and reduce the risk of developing osteoarthritis, particularly in your weight-bearing joints like the knees and hips.
For example, being just 10 pounds overweight can add up to 50 extra pounds of pressure on your knees. If you’re overweight, losing weight can help reduce your risk of developing arthritis. If you already have arthritis, losing as little as 10% of excess body weight can help cut arthritis pain in half.
Exercising regularly
Exercise 一 including aerobic exercises, strength training, and flexibility exercises 一 can help improve joint stability and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Exercise is just part of the equation. Preventing joint injuries also helps prevent osteoarthritis later in life. Injury prevention involves practicing proper body mechanics during physical activities, wearing protective gear when engaging in sports or high-impact activities and avoiding repetitive movements that can strain your joints.
Avoiding smoking and alcohol
Weight management isn’t the only way to reduce your risk of arthritis. Avoiding smoking and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption can also promote joint health.
Eating healthy foods
Eating an anti-inflammatory diet is good for your entire body, but it’s even better for your joints. Food like fish, yogurt, cruciferous vegetables, and spices like turmeric help reduce inflammation and support healthy joints.
Can you completely avoid osteoarthritis?
Even with all the prevention steps in place, there are still risk factors for arthritis outside your control. You can’t control your age or your genetic predispositions.
While you can't change genetic factors, focusing on your modifiable risk factors like weight management and injury prevention can still be beneficial in reducing overall risk.
How we can help
If you start to spot the signs of arthritis, you don’t need to wait until it worsens before seeking help. At Lakeshore Pain and Spine Center, Dr. Silva and our team may recommend medication, physical therapy, injections, weight loss, assistive devices, or even surgery to repair your damaged joint.
Our team utilizes our on-site procedure suite if you need interventional pain therapy.
To learn more about your options, give us a call at 262-484-4035. You can also schedule an appointment at our Kenosha, Wisconsin, office by clicking here.