Osteoarthritis is a degenerative form of arthritis, often described as “wear and tear” arthritis. We can all expect normal wear and tear on the body, but there are ways to minimize its effects, and live into old age with health, energy, and strength!
Suggestions to help:
Exercise and Osteoarthritis
Exercise is absolutely crucial to your well-being. Unfortunately, many are told not to exercise because it will make health issues worse. The truth is – it’s just the opposite! Motion is life! Your body is designed for motion. So daily exercise can help reduce joint pain and keep the joints from stiffening as you do your daily tasks.
You should, however, find a form of exercise that does not aggravate your joint pain. For some that might mean limiting your exercise to water activity, but many people of all ages and conditions can still do things like yoga, Pilates, weight training and even cardiovascular activities like walking, running and aerobics. Just find something you enjoy that does not hurt!
Weight Loss and Lab Testing
If you are overweight, losing those extra pounds will relieve excess mechanical stress on your joints. Every pound of excess weight exerts about 4 pounds of extra pressure on your knees.
Have you have struggled with weight loss? Or have you managed to lose pounds, but then always gain it back? If so, let us help you! Weight loss isn’t all about attitude or will power. Indeed, there are many metabolic issues involved in safe, healthy weight loss that have nothing to do with your mind set! We offer several lab tests that can help isolate some of the reasons you are gaining weight or are having trouble losing it – everything from thyroid and adrenal imbalances to food allergies.
We also offer genetic (DNA) testing to gather information on your genes that affect your individual muscle mass, endurance, fat burning ability and metabolism, the type of diet that is best for your genetics, and other factors that help us personalize a diet, exercise and supplement plan to help you lose weight.
General Nutrition
Arthritis is inflammatory, so decreasing inflammation can help. The single largest source of inflammation for many people is simply their diet. Decreasing inflammatory foods like sugar and refined carbohydrates is important, as well as eliminating fast food. Replacing these empty calorie foods with whole foods like grass-fed beef and free-range chicken, organic fruits, vegetables and whole grains is a good start. Let us test your food allergies and we can help you fine tune your diet even more. If you have a food sensitivity that you don’t know about or are ignoring, that can often be a very significant source of inflammation!
We can also help you with nutritional supplementation aimed at decreasing arthritic inflammation, and determine what is best for you based on genetic and lab tests. Come see us to find out more about Osteoarthritis.
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