Want Healthy Joints? 5 More Top Exercises. Part 2.

This article covers the joints of the lower body and spine, finishing out my list of Top 10 Exercises for Healthy Joints. Follow this lower body health-print and many joint aches and pains will disappear. Number 10 is also great for strengthening your back and abdominal muscles.

A postural evaluation is essential for you to develop awareness of your posture and possible joint problems. It’s not invasive and it will take only an hour or so to give you truly valuable information. A postural evaluation will assess your joints for misalignment or structural imbalances caused by life, work, or injury. A knowledgeable physician, therapist, or personal trainer can check the joint alignment and test for deficits in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Once postural misalignments are identified, correcting them should require only functional exercises, and nothing as drastic as surgery. Once the joints are in proper alignment, joint stability is yours. The muscles can then work pain free.

Your skeleton is in proper alignment when your head is centered over your body and your weight is evenly distributed over your hips, knees, and ankles. For most of us, that’s not a reality. However, you can make it so. Excessive curvature of your spine or an uneven distribution of weight over your center will cause postural and mechanical problems.

The key to preventing hip injuries is to strengthen the muscles supporting the hips with exercises such as intelligent squats, reasonable-weight leg presses, and even stair climbing. For those with osteoarthritis of the hips, water exercise and stationary cycling are ideal. Flexibility of the hips is just as important and can be improved with a regular yoga practice and daily stretching exercises.

 

  1. Seated Bent Leg Raises/Knee Exercise Do this to strengthen the inner thigh muscles, balancing the pull on the knee joint from the strong outer thigh muscles. Sit on the edge of a chair and start with one-pound ankle weights. Straighten one leg. Hold for thirty seconds to one minute. Bend your knee to lower that leg 45-degrees, about halfway to the floor. Hold for fifteen to thirty seconds. Return to starting position. Alternate legs and build up to ten to twenty repetitions per leg.

 

  1. Standing Calf Raise This exercise builds calf strength and ankle stability, co-ordination, and balance. Place the ball of one foot on the edge of a stair or a stepladder, letting your heel and arch extend as far down as possible. Hold on to a chair or the wall for support. Keep back straight, head up, and leg straight. Put other foot behind leg being worked. Rise up on the toes as high as possible; hold for a quick second and flex the calf muscle. Slowly lower to the starting position. Repeat eight to ten times. Build up to two sets on each foot.

 

  1. Standing Ankle Dorsiflexion This exercise builds shin strength, helping you to lift your foot and to balance more evenly as you walk and run. Stand behind a chair. Place your hands on the back of the chair for balance. Lift your ribs and rock back on your heels, lifting your toes off the floor. Remain on your heels for five to ten seconds, body straight up. Slowly return to standing position. Repeat 10 times.

 

  1. Superperson Spinal Floor Work This exercise builds buttock and leg strength, working both stabilizers and mobilizers of the lumbar spine. Kneel on all fours, hands under shoulders, and knees under hips. Lift your ribs and pull your shoulder blades to your spine, pelvis neutral. Breathe in and maintain a long spine. Gently clench the left buttock and slide your left leg back until it is straight but the toe is still touching the floor. Once it’s straight, breathe out and lift the left leg and right arm. Do not go beyond horizontal. Don’t move the pelvis, and keep the shoulder blades tight and in to the spine. Return the leg and relax. Alternate and repeat five times with each leg.

 

  1. Side Plank on the Floor This exercise is great for the lower back, the arms, and abdominal muscles as well. There are two ways to start: one is to begin on all fours, bend your elbows under your shoulders as you go to the floor, and extend your legs behind you. Alternatively, lie on your stomach on the floor. Move your elbows and forearms to brace your upper body, elbows close to your shoulders, fists on the floor. Lift your body, keeping your toes in contact with the floor. Keep elbows under shoulders. Center your weight on the elbows and the toes. Suck in your abs, pull your shoulder blades to your spine, and hold that position for a count of ten. Do this exercise one to 10 times to start, decreasing repetitions as you lengthen the hold time. Gradually increase to thirty seconds, and then a minute.

 

Start this program this week. Do the exercises every other day. You will notice an improvement within a week. You can begin with these exercises or start with the group listed in the first blog on Healthy Joints-Top 5 Exercises. If you need a copy of all 10 exercises, fill out the Contact form and we’ll send it to you. Please send your comments and questions to me at bill@bodyfixmethod.com.

 

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