Hip osteoarthritis is an age-related degenerative joint disease. When the hip joint cartilage is damaged by wear and tear, it causes pain and inflammation, which causes further discomfort. Hence, taking care of your hip to prevent hip osteoarthritis should be your priority. At the hip, you have a ball-and-socket joint separated by cartilage, which allows the ball to slide smoothly into the socket and rotate as you move. With growing age, the cartilage becomes thin and rough, causing the bones at the hip to come closer. As you move, the bone friction leads to pain and stiffness.
Steps to Take for the Prevention of Hip Osteoarthritis
While hip osteoarthritis is common among people over 50, not everyone goes through this painful journey. This implies that you can take specific steps, proactive and otherwise, to prevent the development of hip osteoarthritis. However, firstly, you must ensure minimal stress on your hip joint so that the cartilage stays in optimal health. You can achieve this with the following tips:
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Your weight can be a critical factor in the prevention of hip osteoarthritis. Being overweight puts you at a higher risk of developing hip osteoarthritis due to the excessive body weight borne by the joints. Besides placing stress on the joint, it quickens the rate of cartilage breakdown. Also, fat tissues manufacture proteins that inflame the joints and affect the cartilage.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle, which includes a properly balanced diet and regular exercise, helps you to achieve your optimal health and fitness level. You are better equipped to prevent many diseases, including orthopaedic conditions like hip osteoarthritis. If your weight gain is because of certain diseases such as hyperthyroidism and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), getting treatment at the earliest helps you to manage them better and also prevents the development of other health conditions caused by your weight gain.
Eat Healthy
Ensure your meals include plenty of fruits and vegetables and all vital nutrients, including fibre and fats. In your efforts to control your weight, avoiding fat may not be ideal for your body’s dietary requirements. You can add beneficial fats, such as the long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in oily fish or omega-6 mono-unsaturated fats in rapeseed oil and olive oil.
Other important diet constituents include antioxidants that protect the body from oxidative stress that may trigger the offset and progression of hip osteoarthritis. Vitamin K-rich foods such as spinach, broccoli, eggs, and chicken help the matrix Gla protein (MGP) to prevent cartilage calcification.
Follow a Regular Exercise Routine
Regular exercise strengthens the muscles, ligaments, and tendons around the joints, improves bone health, and controls pain and inflammation. It helps to keep the cartilage lubricated and slows down their wear and tear. Physical exercises increase the blood flow to the connective tissues of the joints, which also aids in preventing cartilage deterioration.
In addition to maintaining optimum joint health and enhancing joint flexibility and mobility, incorporating a regular exercise regimen into your daily life helps you shed excess weight and build lean muscle mass.
Control Your Blood Sugar
Diabetes is a chronic medical condition involving disorders in your blood sugar level. It often leads to the degeneration of small nerves that provide sensation, resulting in joint degeneration due to no nerve stimulation to the joints. Also, high blood sugar levels promote the formation of molecules responsible for cartilage stiffness and inflammation.
Type 2 diabetes causes you to put on excessive weight, which can put more stress on the joints and lead to more significant wear and tear of the cartilage in the hip joint.
Listen to Your Body
If, after certain activities or exercises, you experience hip joint pain, listen to your body’s warning signs and stop. Take a break and give time for the joint to heal. Do a milder, low-impact exercise next time to offer relief to your joints. Ignoring the signs may have more severe health-related consequences.
A hip joint injury increases your risk of developing hip osteoarthritis later in life. Taking requisite precautions to protect the joint from injury at a younger age may prevent you from having it later.
Final Word
As you age, with several health complications, the risk of developing hip osteoarthritis looms large. However, preventing hip osteoarthritis is possible by taking a few steps that you may include in your lifestyle for further effect, including a balanced diet, regular exercise, healthy weight, controlling diabetes, and protecting the hip joint from potential injury.
Get the Most Advanced and Effective Orthopaedic Solutions with Dr. Divyesh Bukalsaria
If you are looking for state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment options for a wide range of orthopaedic services in Mumbai, consulting Dr. Divyesh Bukalsaria can be your best choice. With his extensive experience of over ten years and expertise in hip and knee joint conditions, he is a trusted and esteemed orthopaedic surgeon in the city who offers high-quality orthopaedic care with compassion.
To book an appointment or learn more about our services, contact us today.