From childhood growing pains and broken bones to backaches and arthritis, everyone suffers from aches and pains at some point in their lives. There are, however, specific ages when particular pains are most common, and as you know, our bodies often endure new and more frequent pains as we age.
Thankfully, there are certain things we can do to minimize the pains of aging, feel better, and enhance our lives.
Childhood and Teenage Years
Children often experience growing pains, which tend to occur in the thigh and calf muscles at night. Teenagers, on the other hand, are prone to other inflammatory conditions, such as Osgood-Schlatter disease and Sever’s disease. These muscle and skeletal pains occur earlier life when imbalances between muscle and bone growth sometimes exist.
The Solution – For growing pains, children can benefit from children’s ibuprofen or paracetamol for pain suppression. Often, massaging the thigh or calf helps as well. If pain is persistent, you should seek medical advice to see if there is an underlying condition.
Roaring Twenties and Thirties
Most people reach their physical peak in their twenties and early thirties, but staying in shape and living a healthy lifestyle is still important. In your twenties, most aches and pains come from sports-related injuries. As you progress into your thirties, however, work-related pains like lower back pain and repetitive strain injury, or RSI, may also begin occurring. This is especially true if your job involves standing or sitting in one place for long periods of time.
The Solution – RSI can occur anytime between the ages of 20 and 50, so it pays to maximize your good health by eating a healthy diet and watching your figure. In addition to taking precautions when playing sports, you should also be mindful of your posture in order to avoid creating RSI problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. For carpal tunnel sufferers, a wrist brace may be helpful as well physiotherapy and certain hand and arm exercises.
Fortifying Forties and Fifties
Back pain often becomes more prevalent in our forties and fifties. Typically caused by pinched nerves, strains, sprains, bad posture, and minor injuries accumulated over time, back pain in your forties and fifties is often the result of repeated wear and tear put on your body in your earlier years.
The Solution – Avoid overdoing it when playing sports in your teens and twenties in order to prevent injury. Meanwhile, remember to always lift with your knees and make sure your desk or workstation is setup to promote proper posture. While these tips are great precautionary measures, stretching exercises, physiotherapy, acupuncture, and certain over-the-counter medications may be able to minimize pain.
The Golden Years: Sixties and Up
There are a variety of potential causes of aches and pains as we age, but osteoarthritis afflicts as much as one-third of the over 45 population and half of all people over 75, making it one of the most common types of pain experienced by people in their older years. As the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis makes movement painful by affecting the knees, hips, hands, feet, and other joints.
The Solution – Exercise is the key for people suffering from osteoarthritis. Therefore, you need to get moving and get fit in order to strengthen your muscles. Whether it’s walking or swimming, a simple 30 minutes per day of continuous activity five days a week is all it typically takes to maintain your fitness. Of course, a healthy diet goes hand in hand with fitness and also plays a vital role in reducing joint pain.
Adapt as You Age
As the years go by, you may have to make lifestyle adjustments, such as giving up red meat or going from running to walking, in order to stay physically and mentally fit. Just remember, along with exercise and a healthy diet, a great mental attitude is one of your greatest assets in dealing with the pains associated with aging!
