Osteoarthritis of the knee is a common condition that gradually affects people as they get older. It is characterised by swollen, inflamed, and damaged knee joint, which ends up reducing the mobility and the quality of life of the individual who has it.

For the same reason, osteoarthritis is also known as wear-and-tear arthritis. Apart from knees, it can also affect the hips, hands, neck, and the lower back. The condition occurs when the protective cartilage surrounding the joint gets damaged due to an injury or age-related wear and tear.

Keeping your knee joint happy throughout your life is one of the best ways to avoid osteoarthritis. Patients with severe osteoarthritis are often advised knee replacement surgery when all other interventions such as medications and physical therapy fail to work.

Knee replacement surgery is a common, yet complicated procedure during which the damaged knee joint is replaced with a prosthetic joint. Recovery after knee replacement surgery varies from one patient to the other but a majority of them are able to live a painless life after the intervention.

But knee replacement could be hard on some patients, especially when their financial status is considered. In a country like the United States, knee replacement is a costly medical procedure and may or may not be covered by medical insurance. One best solution to avoid all problems related to osteoarthritis is to never let it affect you at the first place.There are plenty of natural remedies that you can follow to escape the wrath of degrading knee cartilage and eventually evade the need for endless physical therapy sessions, medications, and knee replacement surgery.

1 Make dietary changes as early as your 20s

Making dietary changes can help you in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to the health of your knees. A healthy diet may not directly improve your knee pain, but it does help create a body environment that promotes healing of the cartilages that are getting damaged due to natural wear and tear. Get a lot of vitamin C by including a variety of citrus fruits in your diet as this vitamin helps build connective tissue and collagen. Apart from citrus fruits such as oranges and lemon, try including cabbage, peppers, kale, strawberries, and broccoli in your diet. Also include some of the non-inflammatory fruits such as garlic, peppermint, and sweet potatoes.

2 Maintain physical activity

Exercising is a great way to stay physically active, but anything that makes you move out of your chair or couch is considered as a physical activity. Therefore, you must indulge yourself in household chores, climbing stairs, wash your car once in a while, or go for a walk every morning to keep your knees healthy and going. All these activities help build muscles, including the ones around the knee. Strong knee muscles ensure great support, reduced pressure, and improved strength.

3 Lose weight to keep your knees strong

It would be an understatement to say that maintaining an appropriate body weight can help keep you away from the misery of osteoarthritis. The two knees bear the entire body weight, which is itself enough for the natural wear and tear of the cartilages. Overweight individuals, therefore, must pay particular attention to their weight loss efforts to ensure that they don’t get osteoarthritis and the associated knee pain. Losing as less as just 15 pounds can show tremendous improvement.

4 Go herbal

Some herbs and spices, especially turmeric, have been linked to a great reduction in knee pain and inflammation. Therefore, whenever you feel that you could be getting closer to being diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the knee, try incorporating such spices in your daily diet. This is the reason why the incidence of joint replacement in India is much less than that in the US because the traditional cooking style in India makes use of such herbs and spices and curb inflammation and pain. Turmeric (curcumin), Boswellia, and Burdock root are some of the herbs that can provide great relief and protect you against worsening osteoarthritis.

5 Start taking supplements

For great joint health, you need to ensure that you take adequate amounts of all the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that help keep them healthy. Calcium and vitamin D, for example, are the two important nutrients that help keep bones and joints healthy and also prevent bone loss. Therefore, you can opt to take calcium and vitamin D supplements once you are in your 30s to keep your joints healthy.