5 Ways to Take Care of Your Joints After 50

2. Maintain a healthy weight

More than 40 percent of older adults in the U.S. have obesity, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Extra weight, Hume explains, puts extra stress on the joints — especially weight-bearing joints like the knees and hips.

“If you have normal-sized tires in your knee” — tires being a metaphor Hume uses for the cushiony cartilage between the bones — “but you’re carrying around twice the body weight that the knees are designed for, the wear obviously is going to become more severe more rapidly,” he says.

One study found that losing 1 pound of body weight reduces the load on the knees by 4 pounds. What’s more, fat tissue produces proteins that can cause inflammation in and around your joints, which is another reason losing weight can help with joint discomfort.

Being underweight can pose problems for the joints too. Oftentimes people who are underweight lack proper muscle development, and “the cartilage is not made to accept all of the compression and all of the force, especially when we’re talking about the knees,” King says.

This force is meant to be distributed throughout the body. “You need good muscle strength, you need good flexibility, you need good core strength and hip strength to be able to absorb that impact,” he adds.

3. Clean up your diet

Hand in hand with weight management is a healthy diet. Hume’s focus is less on one food or nutrient; instead, he says, it’s all about portion control, steering clear of empty calories and having “a nice balance of proteins.”

Some research shows a Mediterranean diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, grains and healthy fats — benefits people with osteoarthritis. A 4,470-person study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for example, found that adults with osteoarthritis who stuck to a Mediterranean diet more often had less pain, disability and depressive symptoms. Another study found that adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of worsening knee pain from osteoarthritis.

Supplements abound when it comes to joint pain. Glucosamine and chondroitin are two of the most commonly marketed, but evidence of their effectiveness is inconclusive, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health. Same goes for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), which have been used for arthritis.

Because glucosamine and chondroitin may interact with blood thinners, like warfarin, and could interfere with the way the body handles sugar, it’s important to talk to your doctor before taking them or any other supplement. DMSO and MSM can also come with side effects, including an upset stomach and skin irritation.