How diet can impact joint pain

Everyone knows that eating healthy and having a balanced diet is great for health and wellbeing. However, it is less known how your diet can have an impact on your joints and aches and pains.

There have been many studies done on this topic. They found that having a diet that’s packed with anti-inflammatory foods, can have a positive effect on your pain levels even if you are suffering with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. One diet that they studied was the Mediterranean diet. This diet is rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are known to reduce eicosanoids. These are involved in causing inflammation.  

Foods or diets that can help reduce your pain

When it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, you need to focus on reducing inflammation. You do this by altering the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids and increase antioxidants. This is because omega-6 fatty acid, which is found in animal foods is a precursor for eicosanoids. In the studies, the people following an anti-inflammatory diet experienced lower levels of pain when compared to people on ordinary diets.

Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is packed full with fresh fruits, vegetables, antioxidants, olive oil and a healthy dose of fish. Fish is full of omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids act as natural anti-inflammatory agents. This then leads to reduced joint pain and swelling. This is why choosing fish over red meat can help your body to fight inflammation, making your pain less and keeping your joints comfortable.

Vegetarian and vegan diets

These diets are low or completely devoid of arachidonic acid. This acid causes inflammation. By choosing a plant-based diet, you're steering clear of arachidonic acid and reducing your inflammation. Your joints will feel better and you will be able to move more freely and without pain.

Omega 6 fatty acids

People are sometimes using processed seed oils which, although high in omega 6 have unhealthy ratios of omega 6 to omega 3. Some sources of refined, bad vegetable oils used for cooking are soybean, safflower, grapeseed, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, sesame, peanut and walnut oils. Give them a miss.

Gluten, Nightshades, and Your Joints

Gluten is in grains including wheat, rye, barley, spelt and sometimes oats. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease where your immune system reacts abnormally to gluten. Studies show that people with coeliac disease can get joint pain. So, if this is you, try avoiding wheat and gluten to reduce your joint pain. Many people can be sensitive to these products, even if they don’t have coeliac disease. You will have certain symptoms arise after eating gluten and wheat, these can include foggy mind, headache, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and leg or arm numbness. However, many people have no apparent symptoms and are still sensitive. If you suspect sensitivity, call us at the clinic and book in a test. It’s non-invasive and will let you know for sure and will be part of the reason you have joint pain. We also test for many other things in this test so let’s discuss it so you know once and for all what is making you ill. Check us out on this link www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com

Vegetables

A group of vegetables that belong to the Solanaceae family, such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and bell peppers can exacerbate joint pain. This is even more so for people with certain autoimmune conditions like arthritis. This is because they contain chemical compounds called alkaloids, which contribute to inflammation and joint discomfort in sensitive individuals.

Why not call us today to find out what you are sensitive to and let us design a health plan you can get healthy with and stay healthy?

Knee replacements – are they worth it?

Knee replacements are often recommended for people suffering with osteoarthritis, joint disease or serious injuries from earlier in life. Knee issues can cause excruciating pain so often specialists recommend a replacement as a way to free up the patient from continually popping the pain killers.

Symptoms of arthritis, or a serious injury in the knee are swelling, pain, and deformity of the knee. This can seriously affect your quality of life and cause some restrictions on you day to day activities. It can cause problems doing tasks such as getting in and out of the car, climbing up the stairs, and sitting or walking for extended periods of time leading to frustration but not necessarily surgery.

There are other treatments that can be tried before resorting to surgery. Some of these treatments include physiotherapy, pain medications and anti-inflammatories, also weight loss helps as the risk of osteoarthritis is twice as high if you’re overweight.

The operation

If you do require surgery, the good news is that the replacements have continued to improve over the years. Not only in how they are made but also the way they are inserted into the knee which decreases the recovery time. The metal and plastic bits, the way they are fixed to the bone, the techniques used, the technology to put them in and even rehab afterwards has improved over the years. However if you can delay surgery for as long as possible that one expense and inconvenience will last you the rest of your life also saving you future pain.

The knee replacement procedure is done by making small cuts into the leg, allowing the surgeon to then either replace the whole knee with prostheses or only part of the knee. The procedure is performed under a general or local anaesthetic.

Recovery

Recovery from the operation can vary from person to person but can take anything from 6 weeks before you are feeling up to being up and about to 12months. Medication will be given to keep pain at a manageable level, and your pain should decrease in the first few days after surgery. Many doctors get patients up within 4–6 hours after the operation and within 3 or 4 days they can usually go home.

Other options

If you are feeling hesitant about having knee surgery why not try some natural options first? Reducing your inflammation with the help of a naturopath at our clinic, correct diet and supplements, losing weight, reiki or other energy healing and exercise. Quite often these can help you avoid an operation. Give us a call to find out how we can help.