Though not mentioned in this famous ditty, joints are the structures where two or more bones come together. Your joints will undergo a certain amount of wear and tear as you age, and treating them with care can help keep them pain free. Although everyone should practice good joint protection, it's especially true for people with arthritis.
Arthritis causes joints to become stiff and sometimes inflamed.
Arthritic joints can't tolerate much stress, so pushing, pulling or twisting motions can lead to joint pain. Though you may want to work through the pain, this can aggravate the situation. If you keep pushing like that, what very often happens is that your pain gets worse and worse until you can't use that joint at all, and you are immobilized by it. It may take days or weeks to recover from that, and nobody has that kind of time to be stopped in their tracks. Minn. Protecting your joints is one of the most effective ways to avoid or relieve pain and prevent further joint damage.