Ask an inSHAPE Personal Trainer. Am I destined to experience joint pain when I get older? I've lived an active life and am well into my 30's - and I'm wondering if my body is going to suffer because of my longtime fitness regimen and athletic history.

A wide array of Scientific research is devoted to this subject, and we know a great deal about the relationship between regular exercise (includes recreational athletics) and the body's ability to hold up year after year. We definitively say that a balanced exercise routine undertaken by a healthy individual is not going to singularly cause the degeneration of joints and other bio-mechanical tissues. Barring serious injury or cellular disease, healthy weight individuals should be able to move freely, avoid falls, and enjoy life well into their senior years.

That said, a huge chunk of the population begins to experience joint pain and develop arthritis in their 40's and 50's (some even earlier), so the topic is an excellent one. Let's break it down into three parts:

1. The effect of imbalanced exercise on joints and bones.
2. The effect of not exercising on joints and bones.
3. Miscellaneous ways to treat your joints and bones with care.

Joint and Bone Basics
Before we even cover how lifestyle affects your joints and bone health, here are a few basic details about your musculoskeletal system. The first thing to know is that you have 206 bones and roughly 230 joints in your body. A joint, by definition, connects bone to bone - however there are several types of joints. Some joints fuse bones together and restrict movement, like those in your skull, while others allow for varying range of movement. These mobile types of joints that typically cause aches, pains, and arthritis, are:

- ball and socket joints, which allow for a wide range of movement (shoulder and hip)
- gliding joints, which manage two bones that glide over one another (ankle, wrist, and spine)
- hinge joints, which work much like a door opening or shutting (knee and elbow)

These three types of joints are known as synovial joints (our list is not inclusive), and they utilize fluids from two sources, the joint cavity and bursa, to lubricate the ends of bones, cartilage, and bony protrusions. Your muscles, tendons, and ligaments both encase the joint and force it to move in its specified range of motion. Aches and pains you feel as you get older can stem from any of these working parts!  

Common Causes of Pain and Disease of the Joints
- tendonitis, the inflammation of a tendon, which is the fibrous tissue that connects a muscle to a bone.
- bursitis, the inflammation of the bursa, which is the fluid filled sac that exists at each joint.
- bone spurs and osteoarthritis, which are the conditions associated with the development of cartilage and bone spurs typically near a joint.
- rheumatoid arthritis and various infectious diseases (click here for the NIH page on this topic)

Imbalanced Exercise and Overuse
Which leads us to the effect you have on your joints and what you can do now to mitigate the potential for pain later. A great many of us find that life in this category is rather painful at times, but that stiffness abates once we move around a bit and pop a few anti-inflammatories. We are mostly runners and cyclists, the two sports most associated with repetitive movement in a single plane of motion. However, whatever your fitness regimen is, it is absolutely necessary that you pair activities properly, working all major and minor muscles properly every couple of days.

Next week we will cover a question we were asked about injuries sustained in running (don't want you NYC marathoners getting more nervous that you already are), and if you need a regimen that complements a particular sport or activity that you prefer, send us a note. Part of our specialty in personal training is to design programs around an individual''s lifestyle. We know which exercises are needed to balance out every major sport or activity you enjoy in your life, so don't be shy. Email info@inshapellc.com or call 212.362.1001.

Sedentary Lifestyles and Joint Issues
The most obvious ramification of a sedentary lifestyle is weight gain, and excess body fat is one of the major causes of early joint pain and arthritic conditions in our modern times. A greater amount of weight bearing down on a joint has the potential to cause more of all of the common causes of pain. Aside from this, as your body adjusts to more weight and less movement, fibrous tissues, such as cartilage actually break down, which in turn, allows bones to rub up against one another. Finally, a lack of movement and greater weight weakens your bones, causing the potential for aches, pains, and even breaks. 

Life at a desk already causes you mental and economic pain - don't let it be the cause of your body's pain too! Get up, move around, and take care of your working parts. You will be thankful in your later years.

Miscellansous Ways to Help Your Joints
A healthy diet is one major way that you can take good care of your musculo-skeletal system. By this we mean a balanced diet, rich in whole vegetables and grains, fruit, lean proteins, and healthy fats. A few unprotected moments in the sun is also a dutiful way to ensure that your body maintains a healthy level of vitamin D, which is critical to the consumption of calcium.  In theory, a super-diet requires no supplement to keep it going strong.  However, there are times when we have to look at reality, and with life moving at its current pace, it bodes the body well to add a reputable multi-vitamin to our diets in order to make sure that we have everything we need.

Proper sleep is another key ingredient, as this is the time when the body heals itself through cell repair and fluid redistribution. If you are sleeping less than 7 hours a night on average, you may need to consider that this is part of your problem. See below for more on this topic!

Our last tip is to speak to your doctor about specialized supplements and other treatments that might be advisable given your situation. Sure, seeing your doctor for minor pain may seem like overkill, but any pain that lasts more than a few weeks is considered chronic, and that means, your doctor should be a resource. 

Fitness Tip of the Week: Prepping for the Holidays to Come - Part I
With 8 remaining installments of our publication remaining in 2011, Jill and Kim want to make sure that you are equiped with their top tips for enjoying a festive, healthy holiday season. Each week from now until Dec 20 will include an important suggestion that you should carry through until the end of the year.

This week: Sleep at least 7 hours each night! 
Sunday, Nov 6 marks the end of daylight savings time (don't forget to set your clock back), so you get one gratis hour of sleep. Take it, and then make a real effort to get enough quality sleep between now and the end of the year.

Lack of sleep really does a job on your body and your brain. It increases your chance of developing many different illnesses, such as the common cold and flu. A lack of sleep also decreases cognitive function, making you forgetful, careless and unable to concentrate.

Not getting enough sleep also affects your weight. It’s common after a night of too little sleep to feel like like you’re never satisfied by what you eat. Two hormones control your body’s feeling of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates the appetite and leptin tells the brain when you are full. When you don’t get sleep the leptin levels go down which never lets you feel satisfied after you eat. The ghrelin levels rise, which stimulates the appetite, so you’re constantly hungry.

Finally, a lack of sleep can increase anxiety, cause depression, and decrease your overall quality of life…. who needs all this when the holidays are supposed to be joyous and fun. Get your Zzzzz’s.

 inSHAPE is committed to your successfully active lifestyle, and if you need any assistance getting started with a fitness program or nutritional regimen, please let us know. Give us a call (212.362.1001) or send an email (info@inshapellc.com) so that we can help you and your heart stay fit and healthy. Click here for last week's edition, and check out our blog for a new in home workout each week.

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