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Prevention

Osteoarthritis Prevention

Prevention of Osteoarthritis begins by taking care of your joints from an early age. Maintaining strong muscles to prevent injury to the joint is very important, as strong muscles provide stability to the joints and aid in balance to prevent potential falls. And lastly, keeping a healthy weight to prevent additional pressure on the joints. However, even with all these areas fulfilled in your life, we can still be susceptible to Osteoarthritis, as there are many risk factors that are out of our control.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Prevention

There is no true prevention for Rheumatoid arthritis, however, to minimize its onset, a healthy lifestyle; keeping a healthy body weight, eating a balanced diet, low in alcohol and salt, drinking plenty of water, participating in regular exercise, and not smoking can help.

Gout Prevention

Gout is a hereditary condition, however if our kidneys do not flush the uric acid out of our bodies quickly enough, you may be likely to suffer an episode. Knowing this, we can minimise the risk of having an episode of gout by:

• not drinking alcohol, or minimising the amount we do drink
• drinking plenty of water throughout the day, the Australian Health Department recommends 2.5 to 3 liters a day.
• lowering salt intake in the diet
• lowering purine rich food intake - such as most seafood, offal and beer
• maintaining a healthy weight
• monitoring the medication we take - as some medications, such as diuretics increase our chances of gout.

Preventing other forms of Arthritis:

Unfortunately most forms of arthritis are hereditary or caused by environmental factors beyond our control. We have not found a cure for arthritis yet, but we do have effective ways to treat it. Speak to your doctor or contact your local Arthritis support group for more information (go to our links section).