Little Bad Habits That Cause Knee Problems
January 28, 2010
You might have skinned your knees in your childhood a number of times but if the habit of falling on your knees has continued in your adulthood as well you might be heading for some problematic times in the future.The damage would be difficult to see. While we work, we put a lot of pressure on the knees. But the knee is so designed that it can take almost any amount of stress and strain.However, there are certain bad habits that cause the knees a lot of damage which may lead to pain and even disability
Your posture, the way you sit and stand and walk can affect the health of the joints in the knees. Choose proper shoes and look into the ways you stand and sit and evaluate them so that it can help you out of such conditions like osteoarthritis and so on.
You have to decide for yourself how much weight you usually carry on your knees. Your knees bear the body weight and it is important that you maintain a body mass index (BMI) that is healthy.If you add that extra weight to the body it puts a lot of pressure on the knees. It is 3 pounds of pressure for every pound of weight gain and 10 pounds of pressure if you run. If your BMI is 25 or more than that you are doing a great deal of harm to the knees. Obesity is one of the factors that help develop diseases like the osteoarthritis as it hastens the breakdown of cartilages. Drop the extra fat to get rid of the knee problems that you have.
Regular exercising is a must for people with knee problems. You can start even before you develop such a problem. Without regular exercise your muscles seem to get weaker and the joints,ligaments, tendons, bones and muscles get misaligned. You have to avoid a knee injury because it is an obvious reason for developing osteoarthritis. You can go for low impact exercises like swimming, biking, walking or yoga. These help in the circulation and help build the muscles in and around the joints of the knees. Aim for an exercise of 30 minutes for almost every day of the week.
You have to stay active but you should be careful not to over-exercise. If you do some exercise repeatedly for recreation or for work, it may damage the cartilage and also damage the tendons and lead to arthritis. When you feel some discomfort in doing any exercise or household work, you have to take a break before you resume the activity. See your healthcare provider if you
don’t get relief after few days. To avoid injuries, it is good to warm up before any exercise and also cool down after an exercise.
Water workouts, Tai Chi and Isometric exercises are good for keeping the knees supple.
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