There's no doubt in my mind that Weight-lifting and Bodybuilding cause joint damage over years of lifting and abuse. There are ways to avoid it and also remedy it as well
Some of the main points of pain are the shoulders, back, knees and neck. Shoulders can become a problem from doing heavy over head pressing or heavy bench presses as well. This puts a lot of pressure on the joints over time and compacts them to where they become frozen and then arthritis sets in.
Heavy Bench Press
OVERHEAD DUMBBELL PRESS
When we were younger, we all wanted to impress people in the gym so we would go as heavy on the weights as possible. Yes, we did get strong and we did grow but like anything else you use over and over it wears down much like the suspension on a car where it becomes bone on bone.
This is a warning for the younger guys of today to slow down and go lighter for reps to avoid these injuries, but for the older men who already have these problems, what do we do to reduce the pain?
There are some medications that can take the edge off but extended use can cause other damage to the body. For example.
Ibuprofen
Ibuprofen is a very strong anti-inflamatory but the side effects can cause bleeding internally and if you are on any type of blood-thinner then you can't take these. Alleve can have the same issue and it's very similar. Both can cause damage to the Kidneys.
I've tried as many as 1500 ml of Tylenol a day as it doesn't affect the kidneys but can on the liver in which I got minimal results in reduction of joint pain. It seemed to take a little of the edge off but I'm not sure that wasn't just my mind reacting.
I was on Voltaren as well as Celebrex consistently for over a year which caused my Kidney level to elevate and some bleeding in my lungs that put me into the hospital. It took awhile but then it happened. But, I did have good luck with pain reduction and could function daily very well. I haven't taken it since the bleeding and now daily I wake up very sore in the joints and especially in cold rainy weather.
These two prescription items were the only relief I got from pain. After looking at my X-Rays, I could see arthritis in most of my joints which looked like a white haze. This is what locks the joints and causes the pain. There is no way that I know of to remove this so it's best to deal with it and take something that works that won't harm you.
I did try some Cortisone shots in several of my joints and the shots to me are painless but seem to help a lot. Sometimes they only last a few weeks but others have last over a year or better. It all depends on if the doctor hits the target.
As a secondary Cortisone medication, I really liked the Medrol pack of daily pills for five days.
This worked very well and sometimes only lasted the duration of the 5 days and sometimes longer and I have no idea why, but it did work and especially if you don't like the shots.
Finally in the end I feel that being consistent in the gym and working through the pain, relieves the joints and the build up of arthritis and in My situation, My left shoulder that was frozen finally released itself and I have better movement on it now without the pain. My right shoulder is the bad one now, but I'm working through it to see if I can correct it. Sitting home and doing nothing will end up making you a cripple. It's the old saying 'Use it or Lose It.'