Do your joints hurt when you move? For that matter, do they hurt when you don’t move? Joint pain is something that everyone experiences at some point in their life. Some people who exert themselves, such as athletes, may feel joint pain of some sort every day.

Some other people also feel joint pain every day who aren’t athletes. That pain could be related to every day activities; just the action of moving might bring pain. Sometimes joint pain could be related to diseases such as arthritis or osteoporosis. There are serious remedies that doctors might recommend to some people to help them overcome the pain. For everyone else, there are some things that they can do to bring about both long term and short term relief.

1. Think about losing weight. The majority of people who end up with joint pain are overweight; that’s just a fact. Losing weight, especially getting down to a more normal weight for your height, will relieve a lot of stress on your joints, and body overall.

2. Ice your joints. It’s possible that you’re suffering from inflammation of some sort, which always impedes healing. Icing your joints, or at least getting very cold water on them, will reduce or keep the swelling down, giving you a chance to explore other options that will help you feel better.

3. Heat is integral to healing joint pain. There are different ways to go about using heat, which include:

• Getting into a sauna. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dry or steam heat, saunas will help to make your joints feel better

• Getting into a hot or warm shower. This is actually better for your muscles, but as your muscles relax your joints will relax along with them

• Getting into a hot or warm tub. This is the ultimate solution for getting rid of joint pain, because you can sit in the tub for a longer period of time. What’s even better is being in a Jacuzzi or hot tub that offers spray jets, as it adds a bit of massage to the process

• Heating pads work well, and can be wrapped around the joints. They also will end up being wrapped around the muscles near your joints, which can be pretty pleasurable

4. Massage is great for both muscles and joints, because professional therapists will take care of both at the same time.

5. If you’re going to take an over the counter medication for pain, aspirin is the best way to go. Aspirin thins the blood, which makes it move better throughout your body, bringing oxygen to those areas that need it most.

6. If you smoke, stop. Smoking brings bad chemicals into your body that gets into your muscles and joints, both on its own and through your blood stream. It poisons the oxygen your body craves to help relieve pain and makes it worse.

7. There are certain herbal supplements that are good for joint pain. Obviously both Vitamin D and calcium are important, but you can get those through foods. But other supplements, such as Glucosamine, Chondroiton Sulphate, Niacinamide, Ginger, Turmeric and Tasna are known to help reduce joint pain and even starts the healing process for your joints.

These seven tips will help to lead you into a life with less joint pain and more freedom to do the things you want to do.