Managing Joint Pain Naturally
The thing about joint pain is that it can be indicative of so many things. It can be from something as simple as poor posture that we take daily (work at a computer anyone?) to an autoimmune disease like fibromyalgia or thyroid disease. Sometimes joint pain can seem to migrate - one day it's your knees and the next day it's your hips. Chances are someone's told you that you're just getting older and that it's all part of the aging process. Well, you'll be glad to hear that it isn't true at all. There are lots of way to manage or even reverse your joint pain naturally and without medication.
When my joint pain was at its worst, it hurt to get out of bed every morning. I'd wince in pain when I took those first steps while my fingers were frozen like Barbie-doll hands. I'd go straight to the sink and run hot water over my hands until I could move my fingers again. During the day, if I sat any longer than say 10 minutes, I'd feel like an old woman trying to get out of a chair.
If you suffer from debilitating joint pain like what I described above, then hopefully you've already seen a doctor to rule out if a medical condition may be triggering the pain so that you know what you're dealing with. But, regardless of the severity of your joint pain or even if it's relatively "normal" osteoarthritis pain, you should never feel like it's something that you have to learn to live with - because you don't!
Here's how I reversed much of my own joint pain:
1. Elimination Diet - time to experiment
The foods we eat can absolutely have a direct effect on the inflammation in our bodies. Food sensitivities can develop from antibiotic overuse, poor gut health, or illness. A good place to start is with the 5 common suspects: gluten - corn - eggs - dairy - soy. Completely remove these foods from your diet for 2-4 weeks. You may be happily surprised at the results. When you're ready to add the foods back into your diet, start slowly by eating one new food at a time. Eat that food every day for 3 days, then wait to see how your body reacts. I recommend working with a health coach if you're interested in a more comprehensive (also more restrictive) elimination diet.
You may never want to add these foods back into your diet if you had great results; but, some of those foods are very nutritious - love me some pasture eggs! So, if you found that eggs were the culprit, spend some time on healing your gut (see me for help with that, too) and then try them again in 6 months. You may have to avoid the foods temporarily or permanently. Or maybe you find that you tolerate fermented soy, but that tofu stuff really messes you up. You'll discover a new relationship with your body after this experiment, which is a great reward in itself.
2. Stress - get a handle on it
Many people don't realize that stress is also inflammation in the body, the same inflammation that can also cause joint pain. My go-to to manage my stress is meditation. Strive for 20-30 minutes a day, but sometimes life happens and you can only do 5 minutes. That's ok! The key is to do it every day, just like brushing your teeth. And, if you just thought to yourself, "I can't meditate, it's too hard" then you've already started to cement this limiting belief in yourself. Of course you can do it. Yes, it's going to be challenging at first; but, give yourself 30 days with it before giving up. My bet is that you won't.
Wondering where to start? The UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center has free guided meditations that you can download and a weekly podcast that you can subscribe to. There are also a ton of free apps, YouTube videos, and the internet....see? No excuses. ;)
3. Sleep - get more of it
We should be getting 8 hours of sleep, but for those with joint pain it's even more important. The Arthritis Foundation says that 80% of people with arthritis have difficulty sleeping. You might think the obvious reason for this is because of the pain, but they cite a 2012 study where they found that "the amount of pain that people were in before they went to bed had little to do with how well they slept" and that "researchers think a lack of sleep may trigger inflammatory pathways that exacerbate arthritis pain." I noticed this connection right away in my own body. On the nights I couldn't sleep, I was guaranteed to have much worse joint pain the following day.
To get better sleep, a good place to start is with these simple tips. But, if your issue is staying asleep as opposed to falling asleep then you may want to look into Sleep Restriction Therapy. Which is unpleasant, but it totally did the trick for me.
4. Movement - move more often
This can go two ways. If your body isn't ready for rigorous exercise then obviously don't go jogging or do cross fit. But do keep moving. Take tai chi classes, go on easy hikes, walk around the neighborhood, do gentle yoga, swim, anything enjoyable enough that you'll want to do it often.
If you have more functional joint pain, then maybe it's time to step it up. Try working with a physical therapist or an experienced yoga teacher (oh hey, I'm one of those, too) that can give you specifics on how to target your weak areas. For example, with low back pain they may have you focus on your glutes, side-body, and core. Or for knee pain you might need to work on your quads, glutes, and outer-hips/abductors. Strengthening and lengthening those weakened areas will help to support your joints.
5. Foods to Eat and Vitamin Supplements
It's important to know that dietary supplements aren't regulated as stringently as pharmaceuticals are. For this reason, I prefer eating and cooking with healing foods & herbs rather taking a dietary supplement. But, there's only so much ginger that you can put in your food. So, I do supplement when I can't consume enough of the herb, spice, or food. If you choose to supplement, be sure that you're purchasing from a reliable source that 3rd party tests their product claims.
Here's a list of some foods that you should be eating and supplements that you may want to consider (or discuss with your doctor):
Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids
Wild Salmon, Grass-fed Meats & Dairy
Wild and Grass-fed is important in terms of Omega-3 fat content!
Nuts & Seeds like Chia, Flax, & Walnuts
MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane)
Reduces joint inflammation
Eat onions, garlic, asparagus, cabbage, or supplement
Glucosamine Chondroitin
Eases joint pain and restores cartilage
Anti-Inflammatory Herbs
Cook with turmeric, ginger, boswellin, and/or supplement
Bone Broth
Amino acids, collagen, gelatin and trace minerals
Can also supplement with collagen hydrolysate
Potassium
Known to increase bone density
Eat avocado, sweet potato, spinach, coconut water, kefir/yogurt, or supplement
Magnesium
Helps maintain joint cartilage
Eat leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, yogurt, almonds, black beans, or supplement
Papain and Bromelain
Both help reduce arthritic inflammation
Papain found in papaya
Bromelain found in pineapple
Those are the foods you should start incorporating into your diet today. Now here's the list of foods you should be avoiding. The following foods are highly inflammatory and should be avoided:
Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils
Canola, Soybean, Cottonseed, Safflower, etc. Stay far, far away from these guys!
Grains
Conventional, gluten, white flour grains
If this is a deal breaker for you, then start by removing just the grains with gluten and only indulging in a piece of crusty sourdough bread on a rare occasion.
Sugar
​Increase your water intake by half of your body weight in ounces, and stick to fruits and sweet veggies (carrots, sweet potato) to help with cravings.
Depending on how mild or severe your joint pain is will determine how far you need to go with this. Managing stress, sleeping longer, and moving more are all things we should be striving for anyway - with or without joint pain. So, just by addressing those 3 will give you measurable improvement in most areas of your life.
Need more nutritional advice? Want to know how I can help you reach your healthy goals? Hit me up for a FREE 60-minute consultation.
~Crissy
What else have you tried that's worked for you? Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!
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