Looking after your bones and joints

Weight is the one that matters most

Every extra kilogram is multiplied several times over at the knee when you walk, and more again on stairs. Losing a modest amount of weight does more for an arthritic knee than any supplement on the market. It is also the single change that most often lets a patient postpone or avoid surgery altogether.

Keep moving, sensibly

Joints are maintained by being used. Rest helps an acute injury; prolonged rest weakens the muscle around a joint and makes the pain worse in the longer run.

Walking, swimming and cycling load the joints gently. Strength work matters as much as cardiovascular exercise – the muscles around a knee or hip are what protect it, and they are the first thing lost when someone stops moving because of pain.

Calcium and vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency is common in India, including in sunny places, because most of us are indoors during the hours that matter and covered when we are not. It affects how well the body absorbs calcium, and low levels contribute to weak bones and to muscle aches that are often blamed on something else.

Both are worth checking with a blood test rather than guessed at. If you are over 50, have had a fracture from a minor fall, or are post-menopausal, it is worth asking.

Preventing falls

For anyone over 60, most orthopedic emergencies begin with a fall at home rather than an accident outside it. Wet bathroom floors, loose mats, poorly lit stairs and low furniture cause more fractures than roads do.

Have your eyesight checked. Review any medicine that makes you drowsy or lightheaded. Fix the bathroom floor. These are not exciting measures, but a hip fracture at 75 is a serious event and most of them are preventable.

Posture and how you sit

Long hours at a desk, or long hours on a phone, load the neck and lower back in ways they were not built for. Getting up every half hour does more than any single ergonomic purchase.

Do not walk off a pain that is not settling

Pain that has not improved after two or three weeks, pain that wakes you at night, and any numbness or weakness in a limb are worth having looked at. Most turn out to be minor. The ones that are not are far easier to treat early.