Research Dietician, CDE, N.D.D.Y.
A healthy weight is important for overall health, but weight loss may get tough if a person is suffering from knee pain of arthritis. Arthritis is a condition of bone disease, in which joint inflammation causes pain and stiffness in joints. A three-fold approach of right diet, right exercise, and right supplement can help manage weight even in this debilitating condition.
Arthritis is the most common joint disorder with symptoms such as pain in the hands, knees, hips, back, and neck. It usually happens with age, but it can also occur due to joint injuries or obesity.
The joints affected by a person’s weight include knees, hips, feet and spine. We can understand the relation of weight and arthritis with the simple example of knee pain, which is common when a person is overweight. The extra kilograms gained put more pressure on the cartilage and cause knee pain as the cartilage gets squeezed between joints of the knee bones, causing the cushion of the joint to get damaged. This damaged cartilage makes movement painful, and ultimately, the person feels knee pain even while indulging in simple activities such as walking, sitting and standing. In many studies, it is proved that a BMI of 25 or less is associated with lower risk of knee pain, feet, and hips arthritis. Attaining and maintaining a healthy weight (BMI < 25) may reduce the risk of developing arthritis.
Benefits of weight management in arthritis:
- Reduction in pain
- Decrease pressure on joints
- Reduction in swelling and inflammation
- Eases accessibility
- Better joint movement
- Less pain results in restful sleep
In short, we can say weight management is very important for patients suffering from arthritis. As we all know, weight loss is hard. However, it becomes tougher for persons suffering from painful arthritis which can hamper even normal movement. In this situation, the person can follow a specific direction to get relief. This three-steps, easy approach includes:
- Follow a specialized diet: This means planning a diet, which helps in lower inflammation and gives strength to joints. The diet includes foods such as flaxseed oil, fish and omega-3 fish oil, soybean pulses, olive oil, milk and milk products, and colorful fruits and vegetables (rich in flavonoids). Addition of these foods into a balanced diet may help ease the symptoms of arthritis.
- Inclusion of gentle exercise: Resistance training, stretching exercise and some yoga pose help ease stiff joints, lower swelling and increase mobility. This exercise training is very useful for persons suffering from feet and knee pain because body movement is seriously hampered when there is a pain in either or both these joints.
- Seek a proper weight loss supplement: Diet and exercise by themselves cannot support weight loss, especially in arthritis, because in order to add calorie-burning activity into the daily routine without risking injury to affected joints, a person needs to take help from weight loss supplements. Weight loss supplement which I like most is LOSE FAT™ from BestSource Nutrition, has five natural weight reduction ingredients. One of the ingredients of LOSE FAT™ (grape seed extract) targets lowering of inflammation that especially causes arthritic knee pain.
- Losing weight cannot repair the damage that has already occurred to your joints due to arthritis, but it can help in decreasing and managing pain, and it can also help to slow down the further progression of arthritis. Weight loss and weight management are effective with the combined triple-action approach of diet, exercise and weight loss supplement. It is essential to note that losing weight is not a competition, but whether you need to lose 20, 30 or even 50 kgs, the individual should be physically active. Weight control is a lifetime health-benefit procedure which can improve the quality of life for the arthritic patient as well as for the entire family.
7 thoughts on “Arthritis: Role of weight management”
Its right information for all patients .they can get researched and correct information from your article. Good work Dt pooja keep it up
Infomatic and researched
Excellent work
Superb…. DT. Pooja very good work
It’s easy to understand
Thank you…
Easily understandable
This will be helpful to easily understand how we can manage arthritis pain..
Keep update for more informations
Very nicely written and very informative. Keep up the good work.
Very nicely written and very informative. Keep up the good work.
Nicely written with useful content..
Nicely written with useful content..