Stress can have wide ranging effects on our joints by virtue of how stress affects all the body's systems.  But there is one concept about stress that give us tremendous hope.  That is, our response to most stressful situations is what determines how stress will affect our health.  In other words, how we cope with stressful events largely determines the negative affects of stress.

This is actually quite promising, because it means the negative affects of stress are not inevitable.  We can buffer the effects of stressful events by how we view them, how we describe them to ourselves, or how we interpret them.  We'll first look at how stress affects joint health, then at how coping can reduce these effects.

Stress and Joint Health

Coping with Stress and the Benefit to Joints

Anxiety, Depression, and Coping

Ordinary life events can be substantially more stressful to someone who suffers from anxiety or depression.

Exercise, counseling, keeping a journal, healthy eating, and good nutrition support can all benefit those who suffer from anxiety or depression.  For many people, these can be as helpful in the short term as medication and much more helpful in the long term.