The Best Exercises for Healthy Joints

Chiropractic Doctor Shawnee KS

Healthy joints can make all the difference when it comes to living an active lifestyle. Thanks to your joints, you can jump, run, walk, twist, and move. Your joints give your body stability by connecting your muscles to your ligaments. It also adds a layer of cushion to your bones. This distributes weight and force evenly and allows your body to move smoothly, and pain-free. Reducing wear and tear on the joints is important for keeping your joints healthy and maintaining an active lifestyle. Though natural wear and tear is normal, the number one thing that maintains healthy joints is exercise!

Choosing the right exercises is important for joint health. Though general exercise is good, there are specific exercise regimes that are beneficial for your joints. Exercises that reduce the load on the joints, and engage the core muscles are imperative for long-lasting joint function and decreasing the risk of early arthritis.

What types of exercises are best?

The key to maintaining healthy joint function is to create a successful exercise program that includes a variety of movements. Spending all of your time doing aerobic exercises or only doing strength training will not provide the balance of exercises that is needed to keep your joints healthy. If you think about the everyday function of your joints, they are constantly moving, stretching, and carrying weight to accommodate your various movements throughout the day. In order to maintain their healthy function, the exercises that you do should mimic those daily movements. A balance of aerobic, muscle strength training and flexibility exercises is the foundation for a lifetime of good joint health.

• Cross training: This type of training is an exercise regimen that uses several different types of exercise training to develop fitness. Due to the variety of exercises that it incorporates, the overall orthopedic stress placed on the joints is reduced. Individuals also are able to exercise for longer periods of time without overloading specific areas of the body (i.e. Knees, hips, shoulder, feet).

• Active stretching exercises: Active stretching focuses on increasing the full range of motion, which is exactly what the joints need. Examples of active stretching include yoga, tai chi, and Pilates.

• Aerobic exercises: Low-impact aerobic exercises including swimming, cycling, and walking are ideal. Jumping or running on hard surfaces should be avoided.

• Weight training: Muscle-strengthening exercises are important for good joint stability. Weight training with low loads and higher repetitions is best for joint safety. Muscle strengthening exercises can also be performed without weights. Bodyweight squats, pull-ups, and push-ups are great exercises for range of motion and strengthening muscles.
   

Remember, a proper warm-up and cool-down is just as important as the actual workout. A proper warm-up and cool-down allows your body to gradually adjust to the next event, skipping it can cause joint injury.

If you are suffering from a joint injury consider a consult with a chiropractic doctor Shawnee KS trusts who can offer the proper therapy and care to help ease your pain. Additional joint exercises can also be further discussed along with a specific therapy plan.

Contact LifeWorks for their insight about the best exercises for joint health, as well as alternative medicine.