Learning About Stiff Joints
You wake up in the morning and your knees are creaky and sore. You have noticed swelling and redness around your wrists and knees. You feel like your knees and fingers don’t move as easily as they once did. These are all examples of sensations and body signals that can indicate you’re dealing with stiff joints. Stiff joints can happen simply as a result of aging or can be an indicator of a more serious conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. As you know, we’re committed to improving your joint health and as part of this company mission and goal, we want you to have all the information you need to be informed about your joint health. Keep reading to learn more about why stiff joints happen, how you can treat your stiff joints, and some lifestyle changes that can help you ease joint stiffness. We always want to hear from you, so please visit the SierraSil Facebook community page and tell us about your experiences with stiff joints. Tell us how you live a full life while managing your joint stiffness.
Why Do Stiff Joints Happen?
Stiff joints can happen for a number of reasons and factors, including:- Your age: as you age, the cartilage which protects the ends of your bones starts to wear out. Cartilage is spongy material that provides joint cushioning and as you age it starts to dry out and deteriorate. As well, with age, your body makes less synovial fluid. This fluid is a lubricant that helps you your joints move easily.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA): Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA is an autoimmune disease. With RA, your immune system attacks your joints causing inflammation and damage to your joint tissue. Many people with RA have chronic pain, slightly deformed or immobile joints, and balance issues. RA typically impacts your hands, wrists, and knees.
- Osteoarthritis: according to the Centers of Disease Control, over 30 million American adults are living with osteoarthritis. This type of arthritis is the most common and often impacts the hands, hips, and knees. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage protecting your bones is completely worn down and you get bone-on-bone friction. This type of arthritis develops over time with common signs being swollen joints, stiffness, and a reduced range of motion.
- Lupus: this autoimmune disease causes inflammation and swelling through-out your body including your joints, kidneys, skin, blood cells, heart, brain, and lungs. Lupus can be hard to diagnose and can include symptoms such as joint stiffness and swelling, fatigue, headaches, fever, chest pain, fever, photosensitivity, dry eyes, a butterfly-shaped rash on your face, and shortness of breath.
- Fibromyalgia: this type of arthritis causes all-over body pain, sleep problems, fatigue, and emotional stress. Often people with fibromyalgia have a higher response to pain than most people. People with lupus or RA are more likely to develop fibromyalgia.
- Joint injury: you likely know a runner or other active person who has suffered from bursitis in their knee or tendinitis in their elbow. These joint injuries often result from overuse or from having muscle imbalances that place undue stress on the joints.
- Lack of movement: in the morning you might find it hard to walk down the stairs, to get out of bed, or to bend over and put on your socks. This kind of joint stiffness happens after you’ve been asleep or even have been sitting still for a long period of time. You likely feel better after you’ve been moving around for a few minutes – this is why stretching feels so good.
It’s important that you do not ignore your joint stiffness and discomfort. If you’re experiencing persistent and sore joints, do seek medical attention. The sooner you can get a diagnosis for your stiff joints, you can get on the path to joint health.
How Can I Treat My Stiff Joints?
The treatment for stiff joints really depends on why your joints are stiff. This might sound like an ambiguous answer, but it’s important that you’re treating the underlying cause of the joint stiffness. For example, people diagnosed with RA may need to take advanced level biologic medications to treat this autoimmune disease. Someone living with osteoarthritis might find relief with muscle-strengthening non-impact exercises such as swimming and by taking a natural joint supplement such as SierraSil Joint Formula 14. Because swelling and inflammation are common with most joint stiffness, it is important that you take measures to reduce these factors. This can be done with lifestyle changes that include more exercise, diet changes, and attention to your joint health. Before undertaking any treatment for your stiff joints, you must see your doctor or other health practitioner. Do not self-diagnose and choose a course of treatment based on your interpretation of your symptoms.
How Can My Lifestyle Impact My Joint Health?
Think of that person you know who is in her 80’s and looks like she’s in her 60’s. This lady is active and involved in her community. You see her out gardening, walking, and being active. This lady really seems to never complain about stiff joints or about feeling old. You might want to chalk this up to good genetics and while genes do have a lot to do with joint health, there are many factors you can also control.- Exercise: by keeping your body moving, you’re able to build strength, flexibility, and prevent stiffness. You don’t need to take up marathon training or some other vigorous type of exercise, but daily movement is critical. Getting out for a morning and evening walk, swimming or aquafit, sports such as kayaking, bicycling, canoeing, working out in the gym and lifting weights, or exercise such as yoga, Pilates, and regular stretching – can help ease joint stiffness. It’s important that you reduce the load on your joints by building and strengthening the supporting muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
- Diet: you are what you eat, and when it comes to joint health and easing joint stiffness, it’s important you pay attention to food. Certain foods and ingredients such as curcumin, fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, olive oil, cherries, broccoli, citrus such as oranges, whole wheat grains, nuts, and garlic have all been shown to have properties that can reduce inflammation. As well, these key foods are part of a healthy and balanced diet that helps contribute to your overall bone health, muscle strength, and general wellness.
- Supplements: a quick Google search on supplements for joint health reveals a long list of supplements that can help support joint health and ease stiffness. It’s important that you only take supplements that have been thoroughly researched, studied, and have deep unbiased clinical support. We urge you to thoroughly research any supplements before you take them. We also want to remind you of the benefits of taking SierraSil. SierraSil has been proven to safely and effectively promote joint health and function. Read the FAQ section on our website and learn how our natural joint relief products can help give you the joint health support you’re looking for.