Advice You Can Trust

15 TRUTHS your health care team wants you to know.

- Mary Anne Dunkin

Ask any health care provider what they’d like their patients to know, and you’re likely to hear a few common themes: the dangers from smoking, the importance of exercise and the risks of being overweight.

Lifestyle factors that affect your overall health take on special importance when you have arthritis, says San Diego orthopedic surgeon Dori Cage, MD. For example, obesity not only adds stress to arthritic joints, but it also can affect the outcome of joint replacement surgery, she says. Fat releases inflammatory substances, and being overweight can make some autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), harder to control. For osteoarthritis (OA), weight loss alone can sometimes relieve symptoms. Similarly, physical activity can keep joints mobile and strengthen muscles that support them. Smoking not only increases the risk of developing RA, but it affects bone health, interferes with wound healing after surgery and even reduces the effectiveness of certain medications.

But health professionals have much more wisdom to share. We asked some what they want their patients to know and do – and not do. Here’s what they said:

1 You are the most important member of your health care team.