exercise / fitness / osteoarthritis / strength training

060313 Strengthen your leg muscles and avoid potential knee pain-part one

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Strengthen your leg muscles and avoid potential knee pain-part one

Keeping the muscles of your lower torso strong will do a number of things to improve your health. The most important reason to have strong powerful legs is help prevent falls. In addition to the prevention of falls, the ability to maintain your mobility as you age will play an increasingly important role in your quality of life.

Many of our older citizens are beginning to find they have osteoarthritis, a painful condition brought on by the deterioration of the knee joints. This wear and tear on the joints may be the result of participating in high-impact sports throughout their earlier years. Moreover, being obese exacerbates osteoarthritis in the knee joint. There are different options to control the pain and discomfort in your knee joint.

Probably one of the most drastic will be the total knee replacement (TKA), normally performed when all else has failed to address the pain. However, before it gets to this point, certain life changes can make a difference and prolong making the decision to have your knee replaced.

One of the most effective of these changes involves cutting back on your calories and reducing your bodyweight. Logically speaking, lesser weight pounding on the joint is going to decrease the pain.

Another option is to change your methods of exercise. If you have engaged in high-impact activities involving twisting, and high load turning on the knee joint such as tennis, running, racquetball now may be the time to reconsider these activities. This is going to be a major mental disruption in how you view exercise. Nevertheless, at some point, the pain is going to make you change your mind about continuing with what you have been doing.

Some of the recommended activities, which are passive to low impact, are practicing yoga, walking or swimming. If you happen to not only suffer from knee pain but also have osteoporosis, then none of the suggestions previously mentioned will help make your bones stronger.