Bad habits, age, weight, previous injuries, overuse, and other medical conditions can all contribute to joint pain, affecting the joint’s function and limiting a person’s ability to do basic tasks. Severe joint pain can affect the quality of life.
Joints are the body parts your bones meet, including shoulders, hips, elbows, and knees, allowing the bones of your skeleton to move. Joint pain can be linked to arthritis, bursitis, muscle pain, and autoimmune diseases. However, daily worst habits can also cause joint pain resulting in discomfort, aches, and soreness in any of the body’s joints.
What are the worst habits for your joints?
- Carrying extra weight. Your joints, which link your bones together, are sensitive to heavy loads.
- Texting too much. Texting thumb’ is a real thing. Your tendons can get irritated and lock your thumb in a curled position. Looking down at your phone is just as bad for your neck and shoulders.
- Cracking your knuckles. That satisfying pop comes from tiny bubbles bursting in the fluid around your joints or from ligaments snapping against bone.
- Lugging a big bag. Whether it’s a purse, backpack, or messenger bag, packing too much can cause neck and shoulder pain. Heavy weight on one shoulder throws off your balance and your walk. If you carry things only on one side, the constant pull overstretches your muscles and tires out your joints.
- Using the wrong muscles for the job. Your joints pay the price when you load too much on small muscles. If you need to open a heavy door, push with your shoulder instead of your fingers.
- Sleeping on your stomach. It might help with snoring, but not so much with the rest of your body. Lying on your tummy pushes your head back, compressing your spine and putting pressure on other joints and muscles.
- Skip Stretching. You don’t need to be a yogi, but regular stretching can help strengthen your muscles and tendons. Stretching allows the joints to move more easily and helps the muscles around them work better.
- Skimping on strength training. Once you turn 40, your bones get thinner and more likely to break. If you build muscle with strength training, it slows bone loss and triggers new growth. So, you not only get stronger muscles, but denser bones, too. Together, they stabilize your joints, making you less likely to get hurt.
- Smoking and chewing tobacco. Nicotine from cigarettes and chewing tobacco cuts down blood flow to your bones and the cushioning discs in your back. It limits how much bone-building calcium your body can take in.
- Not getting quality sleep. People with arthritis feel more pain after restless nights; when you don’t sleep well, it triggers inflammation, which might lead to joint problems over time.
- Slouching and slumping. Slumping in your chair stresses your muscles and joints and tires them out. So, keep your back straight and those shoulders back and down.
- Too much computer time. It can be a pain in your neck, elbows, wrists, back, and shoulders. The problem isn’t just bad posture but also that you hold a position too long. That overworks your muscles and puts pressure on the discs in your back.
Prevent joint pain by stretching, yoga, and Pilates; exercises that keep your joints moving through their entire range of motion, prevent stiffness and reduce your risk of injury.
How to prevent joint pain?
– Eat your omega-3s.
– Manage your weight.
– Get some exercise.
– Avoid injury.
– Protect your joints.
– Quit smoking.
– Treat any infections.
– Get more ergonomic.
– Watch your blood sugar.
Joint pain is rarely an emergency. Mild joint pain can often be cared for at home. However, consult a doctor if you have joint pain, swelling, redness, fever, tenderness, and warmth around the joint.
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