Most individuals experience some level of muscle soreness, and joint pain and stiffness in their day to day activities. It is important to design a regiment to manage those symptoms to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. Even with certain conditions, such as osteoarthritis and other muscle and joints injuries, following the below tips can greatly help reduce pain, and improve function. 1- Load management: Often people seek physical therapy due to overuse injury. Muscles and joints are highly responsive to physical load. It is best to pace your exercise and physical activities in a gradual fashion. For example, if running 3 miles causes joint pain. Then assess if a regiment alternating walking/jogging/running feels better on your joints. Often you can build back up to desired level of activities once you ease into exercise in a gradual fashion. Always assess what is a comfortable base line and increase load in 10-20% increments. 2- Ice after exercise, or if you are experiencing acute muscle or joint soreness. Ice is generally underutilized as a tool to manage inflammation. Professional athletes are aware of its benefits and they ice several times a day. It works. Give it a try 1-2/day and enjoy the relief. 3- Integrate mobility and movement into your day. Sitting for 6-8 hours per day will in itself cause joint pain. See full blog on our website: http://www.vitalphysicaltherapy.net