I'm fairly young and just got diagnosed with degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis) in my SI joints. Aside from taking glucosamine and chondroitin supplements, what else can I do to slow the degeneration?

This was at Student Health, I had x-rays taken a couple weeks ago and had them read yesterday. The clinic was slammed and the doctor didn’t have a lot of time to devote to discussing this with me, she said nothing can be done about it except taking an NSAID when I hurt and maybe physical therapy to learn better mobility.

I have to say, this news is pretty depressing to me. I’ll be 33 next month, how is it possible I have osteoarthritis?? I am a server until I finish school, so now I’m worried about the wear-and-tear on my body, and wondering if there’s anything I can do to slow the degeneration process.

Also, with osteoarthritis, is it possible that the degeneration could stay at a similar level to now for a while in the future, or is it just downhill from here?