I’m a 28 year old guy, no signs of arthritis yet. But both my parents have quite debilitating and different forms of arthritis.

My dad (54 years old) thought he tore something in his knee getting out of his car on some ice recently. It wasn’t healing. MRI revealed that he just has terrible arthritis. He’s about 200lbs and 6 feet tall and fairly active still. But for years his knees have made it hard for him to hike or mountain bike. He still goes, but complains constantly. He can not do a squat, can’t sit cross-leg, and has trouble getting down onto the ground or back up (for like 10 years straight).

My mom used to cut hair, now she has really bad arthritis in her fingers, and some in her back. She’s far more mobile than my dad. Also a healthy weight. I’m a software engineer so my fingers are quite important to me.

Neither of them smoke or drink alcohol - at all.

I’m super active. I ran track in college. I mountain bike, freedive, backpack, pretty much anything outdoors. Exercise fairly regularly (2 times a week). My hope is that staying healthy and active is enough. But seeing them struggle to keep up has me worried. They haven’t aged much, but it’s like they feel pain moving.

My maternal grandpa was backpacking and biking into his early 70s pain-free. I’d see that as an absolute win compared to my parents. The research I did this morning had some basic suggestions, but also a lot of “we don’t really know.”

I’ve had a few sports injuries, but nothing that has bothered me after it healed. Some were serious enough to required physical therapy. Mostly ankle and wrist sprains, plus regular stress fractures in my feet from indoor track.

Correct me if I’m wrong: but right now one of the things I want to incorporate more of is mobility work. I like yoga so that’s probably what I’ll try to add more of. Once a week was what I was planning on. I do a lot of active things that I don’t consider exercise, like biking to work, walking the dog, etc.

Also, I don’t run a ton anymore, but it’s never bothered me and I love going on a run every now and again. The research here seems to be super conflicting. My interpretation is that you can run unless you have arthritis and it bothers you. But running doesn’t seem to cause arthritis or knee pain (even though a lot of personal anecdotal stories blame running on knee issues). In general, the lower impact the activity though, the better it is for people with arthritis.

So if anyone has resources to link to, or long-term lifestyle suggestions, I’m all ears. My ultimate goal would be to just feel as healthy as I do right now, for as long as possible.

And so; what lifestyle practices combat/prevent arthritis?

  • nalinna@lemmy.world
    12·
    2 days ago

    Hey, there. It sounds like you’re less concerned about your genetic proclivity to an autoimmune arthritis and more looking for ways to stave off any kind of arthritic degeneration, including your standard-issue osteoarthritis. I’m a 38-year-old who is embarking on a race against the progression of arthritis and other skeletal/connective tissue maladies due to a genetic joint hypermobility disorder that I’m similarly trying to get out in front of. Here’s what I’ve found so far, with the obligatory “I am not a doctor,” and, “Your mileage may vary.”:

    1. Keep baseline-inflammation down wherever you can. It sounds like woo-woo crap, but finding things specific to your body that cause inflammation and cutting them out will go further than you think. That goes for both diet and activities. Consider an elimination diet to help you figure out what those things are. For me, anything that’s particularly acidic makes me feel like crap, as does sugar and processed meats. I go through phases of being good at avoiding these things followed by phases where I completely fail at it. A lot of people swear by ginger/turmeric for anti-inflammatory properties but I try to avoid taking supplements of it because there have been recent studies that show a lot of the supplements made from dried/ground down fibers like that tend to keep your kidneys from functioning as well as they should.
    2. Omega 3s and 6s are great for maintaining (and possibly also repairing?) cartilage. Glucosamine, too.
    3. Strengthen your muscles so you aren’t relying so much on your tendons and bones to support you as you age, thus reducing the overall load on them and keeping them healthy for longer. Probably want to do low-impact stuff. I’m personally doing Pilates because yoga over-stretches my hypermobile joints and I also just find it boring. Lifting weights is also proven to increase your bone density, so it’s just good for you overall. And I feel like this part is obvious, but the less weight you carry, the less you’ll tax your body.
    4. This may be less applicable to you, but the things I take to keep my bones and connective tissue as healthy as possible include: Multivitamin, an extra Vitamin D supplement, a manganese B12 supplement, and collagen-based protein powder (though be careful of lead levels in protein powders in general).

    I wish you luck in your quest. I personally am just holding out for a full-body exoskeleton. That’d be pretty badass.

    • UnPassive@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      17 hours ago

      Great info, thank you!! I’m compiling the things I’ve learned to make a personal list of things to try to add more of to my life, and things to try and have less of. I’m starting to realize that diet isn’t something to ignore just because I’m fit…