Our bodies are fascinating things that we are moving toward understanding better with each scientific advancement and discovery, both of which we’ve had in increasing numbers of late. We really are quite fortunate to be living in an era where science has gained so much momentum, and where information can be disseminated – and used for even further study – at a much greater speed than ever before. Many formerly deadly diseases are now better understood and dealt with thanks to modern medicine, while a better understanding of human physiology has allowed us to identify what bodily features may be linked in unexpected ways. This has translated not only into better medical treatment overall, but more active – and proactive – approaches to health and fitness.
For instance, ailments like osteoarthritis and other joint pain-causing maladies are now confronted with more relative ease than before. We’ve long understood the way our joints work: bones meet and are cushioned with layers of cartilage that prevent friction from building up, while ligaments and tendons attach to the bones muscles that facilitate movement due to their flexing and unflexing. It’s a fascinating process that becomes all the more impressive once we realize that it also accounts for how our lower body joints are able to support all our weight.
Pain that manifests in the joints tends to stem from a number of possible sources. One example is overuse, which can itself lead to some specific injuries like tennis elbow and runner’s knee – naturally suffered by more than just the type of athlete each is named for – and a number of others. Another cause of joint pain is degradation in the joint, which is seen when cartilage damage grows severe enough that the cushioning function is no longer carried out.
Either way, one risk factor that tends to be mentioned when the subject of joint-pain-causing ailments is up is obesity. This is a fairly logical point to make, all things considered – the more weight one carries, the more stress the joints are put through. To underestimate the latter is to fail to recognize that the joints in our body do a lot of work in a day – think of how much you weigh, and imagine all that weight being balances on joints like your knees and ankles, for things like moving from sitting to standing and vice versa, climbing up and down stairs, walking and running, and a number of other tasks. The more weight one carries, the more work these joints need to do – and the heavier the load they are working with for said work.
Fortunately, one’s weight is what is called a “modifiable” risk factor – it can be addressed directly and changed, with corresponding effects on the maladies the risk factor would ordinarily contribute to. As such, it stands to reason that the less weight one carries, the better it will be for the joints involved – an outcome that may also be accompanied with a reduction in joint pain. Research suggests that if a person is overweight, simply shedding as little as 11 pounds can slow the progression of knee osteoarthritis by up to half.
How can a person who is overweight reduce their poundage and so reduce their joint pain?
