How to keep your joints healthy
When your joints are healthy and strong you can move freely and enjoy your life. You can turn, twist, jump, move and walk without having any sort of trouble. This is all because your joints are healthy. However, when you age, it is quite natural that your body goes through wear and tear – there is no exception to your joints unless you don’t proactively keep them healthy. As long as you move smoothly, your joints are healthy. Therefore, to keep your joints healthy you should set a goal to reduce wear and tear as much as possible.
Healthy Joints Avert Joint Replacements
Remember! If you keep your joints healthy, you can minimize the early onset of degenerative joint conditions – such as arthritis – and the pain and inflammation associated with it. You can even prevent joint replacement surgeries – such as Kee replacement and Hip replacement.
How to keep your joints healthy
Dr. Praharsha Mulpur recommends, the following 3-way approach to taking care of your joints:
- No matter what continue moving (don’t remain sedentary) or confined to your desk for hours together without moving. Take intermittent breaks and move around. It doesn’t matter even if you are working from home.
- Do the right exercise the one that reducing the load on the joints and helps in stretching your core muscles.
- Don’t forget to correct your posture while sitting, standing, working, exercising and moving. This helps in reducing pressure on your joints. For instance, not wearing proper footwear can lead to hip and knee pain.
If you follow this three-point or three-step plan of taking care of your joint, then you can ensure long-lasting joint function and reduce the potential risk of arthritis and joint injuries. Your bone health will improve, too.
What Else You Can Do?
The next important aspect is the following – You should keep your exercise regimen in balance with a set of flexibility (stretching), muscle strengthening, and aerobic exercises along with maintaining healthy body weight. This is what you should do to ensure excellent joint health for a lifetime.
Flexibility is important
To remain flexible and maintain your flexibility for long, indulge in activities that help in maintaining a full range of motion. The best bet is to start with tai chi or Yoga. These exercises are handy if you do them before and after strength training or aerobic exercises. They will help in improving your performance.
Cardiovascular or Aerobic exercises
Start these exercises gradually with relatively low intensity and then gear up. Young people can do high-impact aerobics, but aging people should avoid high-impact rope jumping, running on hard surfaces, and also step aerobics.
Walking, Swimming and Bicycling
These exercises are simple but beneficial as they can be performed with minimal equipment. Even paddleboarding is also an ideal low-impact exercise.
You can train your leg muscles without subjecting them to heavy loads by using your gym equipment with low-impact loads. Even a stationary cycle is also best.
Bottom Line
Simple measures but dramatic outcomes – if you keep your joints moving with minimal load and effort, you can ensure long-term joint flexibility, agility, and stability. However, if you want to strengthen your muscles further then you should talk to your orthopedic doctor about whether weight training suits you – and to what sort of limit you can do if you are planning to start weight training. It is always better to take the advice of a professional trainer or a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist to develop an optimal exercise program. An orthopedic doctor who is trained in sports medicine will also help you.
If you still want to learn more about how to keep your joints healthy – then comment below
