As you age, joint movement becomes stiffer and less flexible because the amount of lubricating fluid inside your joints decreases and the cartilage becomes thinner. Ligaments also tend to shorten and lose some flexibility, making joints feel stiff.
Most commonly, muscle stiffness can be treated at home by resting the stiff muscle, applying heat and cold, stretching, and massaging the muscle. More extensive treatments may include physical therapy and medications, depending upon the underlying condition.
Joint pain and stiffness seem to go hand in hand with aging, not just old age. Starting around age 30, you begin to lose bone density and muscle mass, both of which can create strain and pain in your joints.
Time of day. In addition to sleeping posture, research shows that joint stiffness may be more severe in the morning when a person first wakes up due to a correlation between inflammation and a person's circadian clock. This is more likely in cases of joint stiffness resulting from rheumatoid arthritis.
A deficiency in magnesium is most likely to cause muscle stiffness because this nutrient is needed to keep muscles flexible and moving efficiently, as well as relaxed.
Regular exercise can help those stiff, painful joints. It also keeps bones and muscles strong. Choose exercises such as gentle stretching, resistance training, and low-impact aerobics (swimming, water aerobics).
Exercise can prevent many age-related changes to muscles, bones and joints – and reverse these changes as well. It's never too late to start living an active lifestyle and enjoying the benefits.
Vitamin D may be protective for muscle loss; a more alkalinogenic diet and diets higher in the anti-oxidant nutrients vitamin C and vitamin E may also prevent muscle loss.
Causes of common stiffness include exercise soreness, “muscle knots,” overuse injuries, arthritis and “inflammaging,” inflammation (from chronic infection, autoimmune disease), by mild widespread pain (fibromyalgia), anxiety disorder, and medication side effects.
Several nutritional supplements have shown promise for relieving pain, stiffness and other arthritis symptoms. Glucosamine and chondroitin, omega-3 fatty acids, SAM-e and curcumin are just some of the natural products researchers have studied for osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Magnesium. Magnesium plays a major role in the tissue and muscle health in any part of your body. While calcium helps generate contractions in the muscles, magnesium is in charge of helping muscles relax after said contractions.
Despite a widespread belief that little can be done about stiffness other than surgery, appropriate physical therapy can relieve and even reverse stiffness.
Sometimes stiffness is due to an intense workout or new activity that your body is getting used to. Other times, stiffness can result from poor posture. There are several ways to prevent and treat feeling stiff, no matter the cause, including frequent movement, posture corrections, stretches, and home remedies.
“Research shows that, even into your late 80s, your body still has the potential to build muscle mass,” Stacy Schroder, director of wellness at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown, said.
Repeated research has shown that, through weight training, men and women in their 60s and beyond can grow muscles as big and strong as an average 40-year-old.
Strength training is the secret to muscle growth for older adults. It's best to do this with light weights and to work slowly. Slow movements with lighter weights force your muscles to work harder. If you don't have a set of weights, you can use your body weight with resistance exercises like push-ups and squats.
Taking magnesium can help to reduce arthritic pain and inflammation. It may be beneficial to take magnesium supplements or eat foods rich in magnesium if you are experiencing arthritic pain. Magnesium has not been shown to reverse arthritis.
Consuming healthy fats can increase joint health and lubrication. Foods high in healthy fats include salmon, trout, mackerel, avocados, olive oil, almonds, walnuts, and chia seeds. The omega-3 fatty acids in these foods will assist in joint lubrication.
Bananas and Plantains are high in magnesium and potassium that can increase bone density. Magnesium may also alleviate arthritis symptoms.
If you get sore muscles once in a while, you can take acetaminophen or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen to help ease the discomfort.
Turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger all contain curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Some research has shown that curcumin may decrease inflammatory markers after exercise. Taking a curcumin supplement or incorporating turmeric, cinnamon, or ginger into a healthful diet may help relax the muscles.
Fish oil supplements are a popular alternative for those looking to relieve joint pain. It is made up of omega-3 fatty acids which contain anti-inflammatory properties. These fatty acids play a role in providing pain relief to many of your body's joints.
Some people use supplements to try to help manage joint pain from arthritis. Glucosamine, chondroitin, omega-3, and green tea are just a few of them. Glucosamine helps keep the cartilage in joints healthy and may have an anti-inflammatory effect.