You’re meant to live a happy life, but what happens when your painful elbow, hip or knee joints are preventing you from living the life you deserve?
Whether you’re a professional athlete, or just looking to feel better as you move through the ins and outs of life, get going because the truth of the matter is this: the more you move each and every day, the better your joints will feel, the stronger they’ll be, and the happiest life possible you can create for yourself!
Keeping That Fluid, Free and Flowing
Think of all of your joints – knee, elbow, shoulders, back and hips– as having little pockets of fluid around them. Now imagine if you didn’t have this fluid around, say, around your knee joints, how painful each tiny little movement would be. How does bone on bone, sound?
The goal is to keep your joints moving, so that you can jump, sit, stand up, squat and even hula hoop (should the mood strike) with reckless abandon, and without an ounce of pain! Here are some clever ways to get more movement in, so you can feel, act, and move towards your happiest life yet.
Get Creative About Your Movement
That Saturday morning cartoon marathon (it’s ok if you’re 32, we won’t tell!) or your office job doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you don’t move for extended periods of time, you can cause stiffness in your joints, which equals to uncomfortable joint discomfort.
When you watch TV, move around. Don’t stay in the same position for hours. If you work in an office (it’s rarer for someone who doesn’t) take the stairs instead of the elevator. Put up a flyer for ‘needing an energetic workout buddy’ in your office, and get fit during your lunch hour.
Make Sure Your Weight Reflects a Healthy Joint Lifestyle!
If you’re battling your bulge, here’s another reason to consider finally getting serious about weight loss. For every pound of fat you lose, that’s four pounds of pressure off of your knees. And over time, that’s a priceless amount when it comes to your health, your happiness and your pleasure for life!
Low Impact vs. High Impact Exercise
You may think that it’ll take a six week long boot camp to get you to really feel the burn and lose pounds, but studies show that high impact workouts actually assist in the deterioration of cartilage.
For your joints sake, pick a lower intensity workout (and just as effectively lose weight) such as walking at an incline, using the elliptical or swimming. Change up your speed, and completely bypass your weight loss plateau while you ease pressure off of your joints.
It doesn’t take drastic lifestyle changes to turn your stiff, or painful joints into happy ones – just a little switcheroo on the ways you work out, and why. Get moving every chance you get, and you’ll soon not only have the joints of your dreams, but the body of your dreams, too!
