If you suffering from osteoarthritis read tips about How taking small steps through properly selected exercises and nutrition can improve the affected joint.
What Is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative form of arthritis whereby the condition will worsen over time. This degeneration commonly affects the cartilage of the spine and joints of the hands, hips, knees and ankles.
How Can we Help when you suffering from osteoarthritis?
Before I talk about what we can do here at Studio41 to help you improve your O.A, let’s look at what exactly is osteo arthritis and I will be just focusing on the knee as this is the most common joint to be affected. Articular cartilage (the rubbering bit in the middle of a chicken carcass) sits between bones that meet in the body, over time this rubbery, flexible tissue starts to get little tears in it and becomes rigid. This can be sped up through certain process: aging, injury, foot biomechanics & weight gain—for every 3lbs put on you put on 10 lbs of pressure on the knee.
One in three of the clients who attend the studio have started with us presenting with a form of O.A, usually in the knee, shoulder, hip and ankle. In this article I will run through small steps that you can do to improve the function of the affected joint:
Properly selected exercises:
(knee): Terminal Knee Extension, VMO wall squats, single leg step up’s.
Weight loss:
As I mentioned above, for every 3lbs of weight that we put on it equates to 10lbs of pressure on the knees. Not only does the excess pressure cause issues but generally when people put weight on it tends to go onto the midsection, which will affect our gait (walk) and will lead to further biomechanical damage to the knees. Putting yourself into a slight calorie deficit and starting pain free exercise, will improve your composition.
Supplementation when suffering from osteoarthritis:
Certain supplements can slow down the degeneration of the joint and reduce inflammation, such as glucosamine, omega 3, vitamin c & surprisingly Turmeric.
