Step on the Scale
According to some recent Harvard studies, weight-related joint discomfort is hobbling more Baby Boomers in midlife than preceding generations. Here are some ways to help prevent it.
The best thing you can do to ease the pressure on your joints is to lose weight. In fact, losing just ten pounds can lower your risk of knee problems by 50 percent and reduce discomfort too. And because of the way weight is distributed on the body, the impact of ten less pounds of weight on your knees is like losing a whopping 40 pounds.

Exercise Regularly
It’s one of the most effective treatments to support healthy joints. Not only does exercise increase flexibility, strengthen muscles and improve the overall function of the affected joint, it may also help minimize soreness. The three most beneficial types of exercise are:

• Range-of-motion exercises, also known as flexibility exercises, such as tai chi and yoga.
• Aerobic conditioning, which includes activities that increase the heart rate for 20 minutes or more.
• Targeted muscle-strengthening exercises like weight training

• Before each workout, spend 20 minutes applying heat to the affected joints to help loosen them. Then start slowly with a five- to ten-minute warm-up to ease your joints into motion. Otherwise, you run the risk of overworking your muscles and aggravating joint discomfort.
• Keep your movements slow and easy and pay careful attention to how your body reacts. If you start to feel any soreness, take a break.
• After your workout, ice your joints for 15 minutes to minimize any swelling or discomfort.
  

• Instead of taxing weak finger joints to carry your laptop or gym bag by the handle, wear the shoulder strap diagonally across your body.
• As for the groceries, don’t use those tempting plastic handles. Toting just a couple of heavy bags at once will put undue strain on your finger joints. Instead, ask for paper bags and carry them from the bottom while hugging them close to your body. This distributes the weight more evenly, minimizing the strain on any one joint.
• Or better yet, invest in some reusable cloth bags, many of which have long handles designed to fit over your shoulders—so they’re as good for your joints as they are for the environment.
  

• A chair with a lumbar cushion or added support for the small of your back will help prevent unnecessary strain.
• Be good to your hip and knee joints by arranging your desk and chair so that your hips and knees are at 90-degree angles while you’re sitting.
• Position the computer screen so that you look straight at the monitor and adjust the keyboard so that your arms are bent at right angles and your wrists are straight when typing.
• Whatever you do, don’t cradle that phone between your ear and shoulder, which will strain your neck and shoulder joints. Instead, try a speakerphone or headset.
  

• People who get plenty of vitamin C and beta-carotene in their diets have a reduced risk of knee discomfort and knee problems.
• Certain antioxidants, such as lutein and lycopene, have been linked to improved joint health.
• In comparing vitamin E or a placebo to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), studies showed that participants who were given vitamin E reported greater ease of movement than those who were given NSAIDs.
• To pump up the beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene and vitamin C in your diet, try carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, oranges, strawberries and kiwis.