Healthy joints are essential to fluid body movements such as bending, twisting, and stretching.  If you have healthy joints it makes simple movements seem like no problem- you can hike, run, and even just walk up a flight of stairs without thinking twice. When osteoarthritis affects your joints even the most simple movement can feel like grinding pain.

Walking is an excellent, easy, and low impact exercise that almost anyone can do to improve their health. Not only is a walking motion an extremely natural movement for the body, but walking consistently can get you into great shape, and provide all kinds of health advantages. Here are five benefits to walking on a regular basis.

Touching your toes may be more important than you know. Adults often complain of stiff joints and poor flexibility. The painful movement of joints – associated with a diet lacking in certain nutrients, and from overexertion of the joint – can cause everyday tasks to seem insurmountable chores. And as the definition in the government encyclopedia website states “joint pain can be caused by many types of injuries or conditions. No matter what causes it, joint pain can be very bothersome.”

Joint pain is something that many people deal with on a daily basis. It can be debilitating to the point of causing a shift in the way you live. Sometimes jobs and recreational activities are completely lost to it, so preventing joint damage is vital to keeping you active as you age.