15 million Americans have what they’d describe as severe joint pain. Many more have moderate to mild pains.
If you’re among those that have experienced joint pain in the past or find yourself dealing with it now.
You know first-hand how debilitating it can be.
This post focuses on activities that cause joint pain.
We hope that by raising awareness around the things you do and how they can affect your body, you can make more educated choices on where you can alter your habits to improve your quality of life.
1. Staring at Your Phone
Cellphone penetration across the United States is near 100% which likely comes as no surprise to you.
No matter where you look, chances are you can find somebody that’s hunched over, swiping their finger across a screen.
Unfortunately, this habit creates conditions that put severe stress on joints.
Whether your neck is affected by your poor, hunched over posture, or your fingers are affected by repetitive swiping, those aches and pains you feel after lengthy use sessions can lead to chronic conditions.
2. Typing
For most professionals, typing at keyboards for hours on end is an inescapable part of life.
This has become even more pronounced given that teachers are having to engage in distance learning for the foreseeable future.
Typing can exacerbate arthritis pain and can cause severe discomfort in fingers and knuckles, even for non-arthritis sufferers.
Levering speech to text tools can help take some of the strain off of your hands.
You might also consider calling team members rather than typing lengthy emails to save yourself ware and tear.
3. Going for a Drive
Driving is yet another mostly inevitable part of life that causes joint pain. Fortunately, most joint pain caused by driving can be avoided.
The most commonly reported pains related to driving stem from driver’s necks and backs.
These issues can be corrected by sitting upright when behind the wheel and potentially investing in custom seat backs that better support your spine.
Holding your steering wheel in a safe, relaxed manner can also take the stress off of your shoulder areas which house joints that are particularly susceptible to pain and erosion.
4. Taking a Stroll
Walking can be a massive chore for people that have joint conditions affecting their hips and knees.
Some severe arthritis sufferers even find themselves relegated to a wheelchair given the severity of the joint issues they experience when walking.
For those of you that run into moderate to mild joint discomfort when walking, stretching before a walk, or taking natural supplements like those offered through Etanicals and other health food providers can be helpful.
Likewise, many arthritis sufferers have found a magnetic therapy knee support stabilizes their knee. Ancient Chinese medicine and Greek medicine believed that magnets are natural pain relievers.
Nowadays, magnetic therapy is a popular joint pain reliever.
You may also want to try walking on soft surfaces (grass for example) versus paved areas.
5. Completing Chores
Household chores challenge many if not all of your joints.
Over time, that full-body workout can turn into total body discomfort.
A lot of joint pain brought on by chores can be side-stepped by being mindful when you’re bending and reaching.
When bending, try to get low by collapsing your knees rather than bending your back.
When reaching, leverage a stepping stool as opposed to overextending your body to get to hard to contact areas.
If all else fails, consider hiring help to take some of the burden of chores off of your body.
While this represents an expense, the mileage you’ll save on your joints may be well worth the spend.
6. Swimming
Swimming undoubtedly belongs to the exhaustive list of activities that cause joint pain.
It, however, is also one of the safest activities that joint-pain prone people can partake in.
When you’re in the water, the impact of the exercises you do is largely absorbed by the surrounding liquid.
That means less strain on your joints.
Partaking in formal swimming strokes can exacerbate joint pain you have in your shoulders, fingers, and legs.
Consider lightly intensive water aerobics in the pool rather than focusing on more intense motions if that’s a concern for you.
7. Being Sedentary
If you think the solution to avoiding joint pain is to not partake in any activities at all, you’re wrong.
Doing something as seemingly harmless as sitting for too long can also cause pain in your joints.
When you wake up in the morning, do you find that your joints are especially sore?
That soreness is caused by stiffening that occurs through inactivity.
All of that to say that you’ll need to find a balance between movement and relaxation to optimize how your joints feel.
8. Not Seeing a Doctor
While not seeing a doctor doesn’t cause joint pain, it contributes to your inability to get better.
Remember, some joint pain is tied to chronic illness that you’ll need formal treatment to manage.
By seeing a doctor, you’ll set yourself up for a much better quality of life and may find a pathway to living pain-free.
Combinations of Factors That Cause Joint Pain in Your Body Are Uniquely Yours
As you’ve likely surmised, there are no universal elements that unilaterally cause joint pain in all individuals.
The exact combination of activities that affect your joints are unique to you and as such, you’ll need to trial and error what’s comfortable and what isn’t.
A doctor’s visit can be instrumental in you getting to the bottom of your pain so see a physician as soon as possible.
If you’d like more guidance on joint pain, broad health concerns, and more, we welcome you to check out additional content on our blog.