Protecting Your Joints

As years pass by, we find that movement is torture. We want to avoid walking and we tend to procrastinate and postpone all activities. All this has to do with the joints. The joints have become stiff and every step taken is turning out to be a nightmare. These things would not have happened if care had been taken at an earlier age.

Joints are meant to be used

It is very common to see elderly people going for walks. But, it is not easy to see youngsters doing this. In fact, if there is one thing which youngsters of today hate, it is activity of any sort. May be when one is young, the joints may not give problems. Actually, the problems start when you are young. The joints are like machines and they have to be used. Sitting for several hours without any movement is not going to help the cause of the joints. Joint problems are like that of atherosclerosis which involves deposition of lipids and other materials in the arteries. It is said that atherosclerosis starts as soon as we are out of the womb.

Body weight is a problem

The greatest risk to healthy joints is posed by increasing body weight. The knee joints have to bear most of the burden of bearing the body weight. Thus, greater the weight, greater would be the stress on the knee joints. It is not necessary that one must possess an athlete’s body. Even a slight reduction in body weight helps.

Movement is the key

Just as sitting continuously is bad for health, standing for hours together is equally harmful as far as the joints are concerned. Standing without moving is deleterious to the joints even if your body weight is normal. One way of avoiding this is to stand on one leg for a couple of minutes using a wall or chair for support. This way, one joint gets to rest. This can be repeated by resting the other leg. This need not be a continuous activity.

Fitness pays

Exercise is good for health. This physical activity eliminates the risk for several diseases. The benefits of exercise are available to people of all ages. Ideally, any exercise carried out should be easy on the joints especially where elderly people are involved. Thus, activities like walking, swimming and bicycling are useful for keeping the joints in a finely tuned condition. Vigorous activities like running or similar activities which may create vibrations in the joints are harmful in the long run.

Get more muscles

It is also important to strengthen the muscles around the joints. These muscles can act as cushions and absorb some of the vibrations impacting the joints. Resistance exercises are useful in this respect. It is equally essential to keep the core muscles strong and this provides better balance. This means falls are less likely to occur. The strengthening of the bones is also necessary as this offers better balance. Hence, there is need for increasing calcium supply.

Good posture is good

Posture also plays a pertinent role in deciding the health of the joints. Poor posture puts a lot of pressure on one of the joints while taking the load off the other. Brisk walking is one of the ways by which good posture can be maintained. Another way of hurting the joints is to carry weights in such a way that the weight is transferred to the joints. Thus, instead of carrying a heavy load using hands, it would be better to transfer the load to the shoulders.