H<\/span>ere\u2019s one of the biggest misunderstandings I\u2019ve seen after more than twenty years as a physiotherapist. Too many people spend years trying to reduce pain when what they often need to do is rebuild the muscles, movement, and confidence that support their joints.<\/p>\n Painkillers can play an important role. They can reduce pain enough to help you sleep better, get through the day, or start moving again. For many people, that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s needed in the short term. The problem isn\u2019t the medication itself. It\u2019s when painkillers become the whole plan instead of one part of a bigger strategy.<\/p>\n They can\u2019t strengthen muscles, improve balance, or rebuild confidence. Those things come from giving your body the opportunity to adapt.<\/p>\n Over time, many of the people I see find themselves relying less on painkillers. We haven\u2019t spent months trying to get them off medication. Instead, we\u2019ve spent months helping them move better, rebuild strength, and regain confidence, and the need for painkillers has often decreased as a result.<\/p>\n So, where should you start?<\/p>\n One of the biggest mistakes I see is people avoiding movement altogether because they\u2019re afraid it will make things worse. It\u2019s an understandable reaction, but joints are designed to move. When we stop moving completely, joints become stiffer, the muscles around them weaken, and everyday tasks often become harder than they need to be.<\/p>\n I often describe a stiff joint as a rusty door hinge. If a hinge hasn\u2019t been used for months, forcing it open usually doesn\u2019t help. It needs gentle, repeated movement before it starts moving freely again. Our joints are often very similar. While some stiffness is part of getting older, much of the stiffness I see is made worse by moving less, not by moving more.<\/p>\n Heat, whether that\u2019s a warm shower, a hot water bottle, or a heated wheat bag, followed by a few minutes of gentle movement, is often one of the quickest ways to ease stiffness and prepare your body for activity. Once you\u2019re moving more comfortably, strengthening exercises become much more effective.<\/p>\n Beginning around age forty, we naturally lose muscle through a process called sarcopenia. Most people have never heard the term, but they\u2019ve noticed the effects. The stairs take a little more effort, carrying groceries feels heavier, and getting up from a low chair becomes something you think about rather than something you simply do.<\/p>\n Most people think muscles are there to help us lift heavier weights or look more toned. In reality, one of their most important jobs is to support and protect our joints. Every step you take, every staircase you climb, and every bag of shopping you carry ask your muscles to absorb some of that load. The stronger they are, the less work your joints have to do.<\/p>\n One of my favorite exercises is the sit-to-stand. Standing up from a chair and sitting back down ten times without using your hands strengthens many of the muscles we rely on every day. It isn\u2019t glamorous, but it works.<\/p>\n Walking is one of the best forms of exercise. It benefits your heart, lungs, and mental well-being while helping keep your joints moving. But it doesn\u2019t strengthen every muscle that keeps you active and independent.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why people who continue traveling, gardening, hiking, and enjoying an active lifestyle into their seventies and eighties usually combine walking with some simple strength exercises as well.<\/p>\n Painkillers absolutely have a place, and I have no problem with people using them when needed. If they reduce your pain enough to start moving again, they\u2019ve done an important job.\nThe key is to see them as a bridge rather than the destination. Use that window of opportunity to move more, rebuild strength, and regain confidence, so your body gradually becomes more capable over time.<\/p>\n One of the biggest lessons I\u2019ve learned over the past twenty years is that pain doesn\u2019t affect only the body.\nIt changes behavior.<\/p>\n People stop walking as far. They avoid holidays that involve a lot of sightseeing. They spend less time in the garden or decide not to try new activities because they worry their bodies won\u2019t cope. Before long, their world slowly becomes smaller.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent more than twenty years helping people who believed their best years were behind them. Many are now walking farther, traveling more, gardening again, and doing things they never imagined they\u2019d be able to do.<\/p>\n Watching that transformation is one of the reasons I still love what I do.<\/p>\n If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this. Spend the next two weeks giving your body a reason to change. Walk a little every day, practice ten sit-to-stands from a sturdy chair, and loosen stiff joints with a little heat before you move. They aren\u2019t complicated exercises, but done consistently, they help rebuild the muscles and movement your joints rely on.<\/p>\n Pain may have brought you to this article, but the real goal isn\u2019t just to reduce pain. It\u2019s to build a body that gives you choices. A body that lets you travel, enjoy hobbies, spend time with family, and say yes to opportunities without constantly wondering whether pain will get in the way.<\/p>\n Growing older is inevitable.<\/p>\n Gradually expecting less of your body doesn\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n Physiotherapist offers tips on how to move better, rebuild strength, and regain confidence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2026","category-fall-2026-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17652"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17900,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17652\/revisions\/17900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Keep moving<\/h3>\n
2. Rebuild the muscles that support your joints<\/h3>\n
3. Keep walking, but don\u2019t rely on walking alone<\/h3>\n
4. Think of painkillers as a bridge<\/h3>\n
5. Focus on the life you want to live<\/h3>\n
Phil Evans (Phil the Physio)<\/a> is a Chartered Physiotherapist and author of Built to Last After 50<\/a>. With more than 20 years of experience, he has helped adults over 50 improve strength, mobility, and confidence so they can remain active and independent.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"