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Excruciating Knee Pain- can’t workout? Here are some dos and don’ts

knee_pain

India is rapidly getting on the fitness path. However, many who have been active have suddenly become inactive due to injuries and largely these injuries pertain to leg or back. Knee pain and back pain being the most common among the young adults.

Knee pain today has become one of the most common orthopedic pain ailment among people of all age groups. What was earlier considered to affect people after about 60 years of age is now striking people earlier, reason being wrong foot wear, injury, bad and sedentary lifestyle, body weight, etc.

Let me cite my own example: I had injured my knee during the rainy season due to wrong shoes while performing an adventure activity. I couldn’t walk for few days as I had ruptured my ligament. It was a ligament strain. Thereafter, my knee became a hindrance for my workout. Doctor suggested rest and no workout.

I had to skip everything, right from running, working out, playing a sport. And I felt miserable and helpless that an injury stopped me from so many things. This is exactly the scenario with many of the people I consult. Most come up with the same issue of Knee injury so exercise is a NO NO, which is necessary for being fit.

First and foremost one needs to understand there are different kinds of Knee pain, it can be an injury, strained past injury, excessive weight, high uric acid, joint pain, arthritis. Depending upon what it is exactly that is giving the pain; there are different or similar solutions to it. In my case too, I spoke to different experts like Physiotherapist or My Trainer and I figured out that I need not stop exercising. I need to work on the strengthening of the knee and avoiding exercises that would worsen it.

In cases like High Uric acid and joint pain, of course dietary changes play a major role but exercises also need to be a part of recovery.

Things that would bother it more is exercises like Squats, that is why your doctor says start using western toilet and don’t sit down, as that motion would impact more on your knee and give pain.

Also avoid lunges, a form of exercise. Jumping moments as it would give shock to your joints especially the knees.

How do we still continue to be active with the knee pain?

What can be done? 

1. Exercise to strengthen it: Sit on a chair and raise your leg up and put it down again, repeat this for 10 times in a set of two. After few weeks, repeat the same exercise with little ankle weights, if you can manage.

2. Roll up a towel or a cloth: to form a cylindrical type format and keep that under your knee with the leg extended, try to press that with the knee and then release, repeat this for 4-5 times.

You can follow these two exercises for a better and stronger knee muscles.

3. Avoid running, squats, jumping movements

4. Eat foods that make your knee stronger Walnuts, Almonds, Milk and Milk products

5. In certain cases physiotherapy exercises will be needed.

6. Strengthen the supporting muscles like glutes( hip muscle), core muscles and leg muscles.

7. Stretching the leg muscles will also help as the stiffness in this part of muscle can cause difficulty in movement of the knee leading to pain.

8. Anti inflammatory and high antioxidants food like fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts.

9. Have food rich on Omega 3 like flaxseed and fish

10. Home made ghee of cow’s milk.

11. Maintain body weight.

12. Warm up well before any type of activity.

13. Opt for swimming as it helps a lot in knee issue.

14. Wear proper fitting shoes

15. Do not increase or decrease your activity. Keep it moderate.

16. Increase your Calcium & D3 uptake. Sources can be Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, egg yolk

( avoid for people have high cholesterol/ triglycerides), Ragi, Broccoli, Nuts, Fish.

All these points can make your knee pain better and make it more stronger and don’t stop yourself from workout if there is knee pain.

 

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What time is the best time to exercise?

exercise

Today, everybody is well aware of the importance of exercising. People want to come out of their sedentary and a very uncertain lifestyle routine due to constant travelling but, how and when to invest this 30 to 40 minute for exercise regime in such hectic schedules is a BIG QUESTION??

If you ask me, when is the best time to exercise, my answer would be in the MORNING, for several reasons such as

  1. It boost’s your metabolism and keeps it elevated for several hours; meaning you are burning more calories all the day long
  2. You psychologically feel healthy because you started your day in a healthy way which motivates you to make the remaining day healthy as well.
  3. If you have a fixed exercise time in the morning, you are eventually motivated to develop the habit of sleeping on time to wake up on time.
  4. Many a times it happens that people don’t find time to exercise. In such cases best thing to do is to sleep half an hour earlier at night then you usually sleep and wake up half an hour earlier in the morning and utilize that time to exercise. Research shows that people who exercise regularly have a higher quality of sleep and hence require less sleep.

But, friends this is not the end. If at all you miss exercising in the morning or many are not morning people and do not prefer to exercise in the morning, for them the next good time is in the evenings after office. Exercising in the evening can act as a stress reliever after a hectic day.

Due to erratic work schedules, keeping a fixed time for evening workouts can be difficult for some people and hence they end up missing the evening workout too. People end up saying Ohho, yet another day is over and I missed my workout once again. Can I go for a walk after my dinner? The answer is definitely YES but you have to take care that you keep a gap of 2 hours between your dinner and walk. The reason behind this is that, when you go for a walk immediately after your dinner, the blood flow is diverted towards your legs instead of stomach and then digestion is hampered which is not what we aim for.

A new interesting and fun part of exercise comes in when you have a large group working out with you. Start a healthy trend in your office. For some people, lunch time is the best time to exercise, especially in the office along with their colleagues. We do this at our workplace at GOQii . On the days, I am not able to exercise in the morning, I am not much worried as in the office we have developed this habit of working out together just before our lunch.

People who are still confused which time can be best, try to exercise in the morning for a few weeks, then try at noon and then evening. Find out for yourself which is the time you enjoyed the most and which time made you feel the best. Also consider the type of exercise and other daily commitments.

One day, you’ll reach a point where daily exercise comes as naturally as breathing. At that point, you may want variety. But, if you’re still at the point where exercise is hit or miss, scheduling it for the same time each day will help you make it a habit. Whether you choose morning, lunch time, or after work to exercise, make it part of your routine.

To conclude, any time is good time to be active , its just that you need to find out for yourself and be consistent till it becomes a habit for you.

 

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Squats and its benefits

squats

Human’s have been doing squats since time in memorial. Squat is a natural movement that humans have been doing since they existed. The great ‘ Gama’ became a world champion wrestler in 1910 using the Squat routine.

It is one of the important exercise and known as the ‘King of all exercises’. Squat is a compound full body exercise as more than one joint are involved during the squats. It works your whole body from head to toe.

You squat by bending through your hips and knees wit weight on your upper back until your hips come over your knees.

Squats targets Quadriceps, Gluteus ( hip0 muscle) maxims and hamstrings primarily and Gluteus medias, Gluteus minimus, Adductors , Gastrocnemius , soleus , Erector spine secondary muscles. Squats helps in gaining overall strength and muscles.

Even if you do not do aggressive workouts or gymming , doing squats daily is a good form exercise. There are several benefits of doing squats. Lets look at each of them

Benefits of Squats:

  • Burn More Calories
    As I have mentioned above, Squats exercise is multi joints or compound movement as it targets maximum muscles. Once maximum muscles are targeted it helps to burn more calories.
  • Burn Fats
    Squat targets multiple muscles at a time as a result of which testosterone level increases which in turn helps to burn more fats.
  • Build balance and Posture
    The Squats exercise enables to build balance as well as good posture.
  • Makes knee and hip joint strong and flexible
    Contrary to the popular belief that squats aren’t bad for your knees and lower back. In fact, if done properly under proper guidance you will strengthen the muscles surrounding your knees and lower back. Squats helps to make knee and hip joint stronger and flexible.
  • Improve blood circulation
    Squat exercise helps to improve blood circulation to the entire body due to which the muscles get more oxygen and essential nutrients.
  • Squat exercise increases core strength
    Squats with the proper posture will help to improve core strength.

How to perform basic squats

Stand with your feet, hip, back straight and shoulders apart. Move your hip back and bend your knees. Knee joint and hip joints should be moved at the same time. For better balance you can raise your arms in the front till shoulder level. Then return to the standing position. This should be repeated 10 times and 3 sessions of 10 each should be done.

Breathing during the Squats

Breathing is very important in any exercise. Inhale while going down and exhale while coming up.

To make this exercise more intense you can use dumbbells or barbells .

Who should avoid squats

The persons suffering from already existent knee injury and sleep disk (lower back pain) should avoid squats

Disclaimer: Before starting any form of exercise please take your physician and trainer’s advise

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Protein importance for muscles strength

protein-foods

Sometimes we wonder how to build up protein, one very important thing that crops up in every human’s mind in terms of muscle development is “weight training” which is in a way correct, weight training is very important to build those muscles but diet is equally important. Wight training — creates microscopic tears in your muscles.

The nutrients you eat determine how well your muscles repair these tears and, in turn, how much strength you gain. Apart from eating healthful food, you must get enough sleep and eat frequent meals for the greatest muscular strength. Do you know that your fitness is 70% of your diet and 30% of your workouts?

For an example you have your vehicle, a car but you don’t have its key… Will you be able to drive the car? Absolutely not… Similarly, here the weight training is the car, and the key is your diet, a perfect amount of protein is very necessary for your muscle development. The most important nutrient in muscle repair, which allows your muscles to become stronger, is protein.

The Amount of protein for a sedentary person would be Approx 0.5 to 0.8 Grams, and for a active person who do rigorous activities, he needs at least 1.5 to 1 gram of protein for 1Kg. Protein is a macro nutrient necessary for the proper growth and function of the human body.. Any excess protein is turned into energy by the body. A deficiency in protein leads to muscle atrophy, and impaired functioning of the human body in general.

Ideal sources for building strength are complete protein sources, rather than incomplete proteins, states the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Complete proteins contain each of the nine essential amino acids. Sources include milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, soy products, poultry, fish and meat. For the best benefit to your strength, consume a source of complete protein within 30 minutes of finishing your workout

Some of the good protein options are:-

1-Turkey and chicken breast

2-Fish ( tuna, salmon, halibut )

3-Cheese ( Non-fat mozzarella )

4-Lean beef ( Low fat )

5-Tofu

6-Beans ( Mature soy  beans )

7-Eggs ( Egg whites specially )

8-Yougurt, milk and soy milk

9-Nuts and seeds (Pumpkin and watermelon seeds, peanuts and almond )

So the next time you are going to prepare for your muscle build up, try to keep these things in mind. And keeping these things on track doesn’t mean that you avoid the other nutrients. They are equally important.

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