RESEARCH FINDS THAT NORMAL EXERCISE WON’T ACTUALLY DESTROY YOUR KNEES
So lots of folks hesitate to do a lot of different forms of exercise because they’re worried they’ll kill their knees. And by kill, I mean causing osteoarthritis. Sure, connective tissue is the kind of thing that definitely comes with a shelf life. I continue to discover that every time I get out of bed in the morning. That being said, when your knees hurt, it’s never casual pain. So it’s welcome news that “normal” exercise won’t cause arthritis in that major lower body joint. Well, joints, of course. But even better, normal exercise also means duration. So when you think you need to get off that treadmill after only 20 minutes, you can think again. And hydrate, of course. You really won’t destroy your knees!
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MANY AVOID EXERCISE, FEARING LIFE-CHANGING OSTEOARTHRITIS RUINING THEIR KNEES
This nice little health finding comes from research done in the UK. They used evidence already in hand. In other words, they didn’t need to get new data to achieve their findings. And while this may seem to be not so big news, think again. Osteoarthritis of the knee is by far the most common arthritis malady the world over. And for those who have it in their knees, it’s a major pain. It interferes with your ability to have fun physically and forces you to think about knee replacement surgery maybe even in your 40’s. But for those not quite there yet, this news reinforces that normal exercise doesn’t place you at greater risk.
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ARTHRITIS ANYWHERE IS A PAIN, BUT IN THE KNEES IT USUALLY ONLY GETS WORSE
So what is arthritis? Well, inflammation of the joint. But osteoarthritis is degenerative, meaning your cartilage will continue to atrophy (break down) as time goes by. And the less cartilage you have, the more likely knee injury is to occur. Oh, and swelling. Swelling can cause a vicious cycle with the inflammation, each reinforcing the other. By the way, of you suffer from knee swelling, don’t forget you can get some manual help from a partner. Just lay on your back with the offending leg and knee up in the air. Then, have your partner slowly (and gently!) massage the swelling out of the joint (down) into your upper leg. Yes, your leg will bruise from the white blood cells. But it will alleviate the cycle of inflammation. Now, go and destroy your workout without fear!
If you want to read the study, you can find all the big words here.
