Patriot Health Digest
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
This is an autoimmune condition that makes your body attack the healthy joint tissues. “Rheumatoid arthritis has a tendency to affect the small joints in your feet and hands first,” says Joanne Jordan, M.P.H, M.D., director of the Thurston Arthritis Research institute at the University of North Carolina. “After this, other joints, like the elbows and shoulders, start to become painful.”
Prevent it: Research from South Korea reveals that individuals who consume the largest amount of vitamin D are 24 percent less likely to get rheumatoid arthritis than people who consume the least amount of vitamin D.
OSTEOARTHRTIS
The condition can reveal itself with swelling, but it normally starts with a nagging pain that can advance from minor to severe, Dr. Jordan says.
Prevent it: Warm up prior to your work out—an injury in your 20s could come back as osteo arthritis pain while in your 40s. And watch your weight. Otherwise, Dr. Jordan says, your joints will have to work harder to hold your weight, and fat cells can promote joint inflammation.
TENDINITIS
Tendons connect muscle to bone. In people with tendinitis, that tissue will become sore and inflamed. The worst of the pain is felt at night. You could blame wear and tear on your job, hobbies, or sports, says Theodore Blaine, M.D., chief of elbow and shoulder surgery and a professor of rehabilitation at Yale school of medicine.
Prevent it: Try to Avoid going from slug to stud too fast. “If you are looking to get more in shape, you should slowly increase your the amount of exercise you do,” Dr. Blaine says.
BURSITIS
This is inflammation of your bursa which are fluid-filled pouches that lie right beside your tendons. The common symptoms are pain and swelling, and the condition could be caused by either repetitive overuse or an acute injury.
Prevent it: Follow the same rule for preventing tendinitis. And forget about the idea of “working through the pain”—if you start to feel some soreness in your elbow, knee, or shoulder, stop working out right away.
Author: Blake Ambrose
