Proven strategies that cut your risk of arthritis

If you've ever seen people hobbling on bum knees or hips, you know how arthritis can interfere with life. Everything from genetics to joint injuries to age-related changes in cartilage-protecting enzymes plays a role. But osteoarthritis isn't inevitable, as these tips will detail.

• For osteoarthritis, cartilage breakdown. Injuries, extra weight, genetics and muscle weakness can all contribute. Over time, cartilage may wear through in spots so that bones rub against each other, creating intense pain.
• Rheumatoid arthritis happens when your immune system attacks the lining of your joints, leading to intense pain, swelling and joint deformities

• Pain, stiffness, tenderness and swelling in joints. Osteoarthritis most often affects the knees, hips, hands and spine.
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) begins in small joints in the hands and feet, then spreads to larger joints.
• Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause fever, fatigue and weight loss.

There's plenty of evidence that you can cut your risk significantly with these simple, proven strategies.

1. Lose weight. Put less pressure on your joints and lower your risk of arthritis. Losing five kilograms (11 pounds) can cut your odds of developing arthritis over the next 10 years by a whopping 50 percent. It benefits not only your knees but your hips, too. Women with higher body weight were twice as likely to need hip replacement surgery.
2. Move more. Researchers thought that a lifetime of exercising made people more vulnerable to the arthritis. In fact, there's growing evidence that exercise can prevent problems by building muscles that protect joints. Exercising for just an hour a week lowered risk of developing arthritic joints by about 30 percent.
3. Add strength training. Strengthening your muscles by using light hand weights, elastic bands or gym machines may shield joints from damage. Women with stronger thigh muscles had an amazing 64 percent lower risk for arthritis of the hips than women with weaker thigh muscles.
4. Don't smoke. Women who smoke cigarettes raise their risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis by 30 percent in one study and doubled the risk of the disease in another. Tobacco smoke may provoke immune system changes leading to an attack on joints. Good news: women who quit smoking had no extra risk after about 10 years.
5. Get more D. Vitamin D, produced by your skin with exposure to sun, may keep the immune system healthy and protect joints by strengthening nearby bone. Study subjects with above-average amounts of D from food and supplements were in better shape after eight years than those who didn't. Many experts are now recommending 1,000 IU of D per day.
6. Try insoles. If you have medial-knee arthritis — wear and tear that harms the middle of your knee joint — special insoles could help. Lateral-wedge insoles are thinnest at your instep and widest at the outer edge of your foot, realigning your feet and lower legs in a way that can reduce some of the twisting that wears down knee joints. Ask you doctor if they could help you.
7. Eat colourful foods. If it's red, orange, blue or green, chances are it's loaded with antioxidants, compounds that neutralize free radicals that interfere with cartilage rebuilding. People with highest blood levels of the antioxidants betacryptoxanthin — found in mangos, peaches and oranges — and zeaxanthin — found in spinach, sweet corn, peas and orange peppers, cut their arthritis risk by 50 percent.
8. Don't forget C. Eating plenty of strawberries, oranges, red peppers and broccoli — all loaded with vitamin C — could help slow the development of knee pain if you already have osteoarthritis. People who got the most C were three times less likely to have arthritis knee pain than people who got the least.