by physiotess on 19/03/2012
A recent study conducted by The University of Sydney has found a link between a lack of strength in women and an increased need for residential aged care.
To stay strong it is important to take every opportunity to stay active. Walk rather than drive, use stairs, not the lift.
Weight training is great to strengthen and tone major muscle groups, but make sure you don’ t just focus on extremities, but your core as well. Body weight controlled exercises such as squats, push ups and triceps dips can be a cheap and very effective way of gaining safe strength benefits.
Aim for an all- round workout that ensures you maintain an upright posture and this will reduce your chances of injury and joint pain in the future.
Recently we had a week where almost every patient seen had a knee injury – a couple of injuries were age related, most were exercise related and some just as the result of accidents, which got us thinking whether we really do enough to look after our knees…
A pair of healthy knees is critical to most forms of exercise and a lot of daily activities. It is important to make sure you are stretching regularly to maintain good flexibility of all the muscle groups around the knee and also to mix up your training to include some non-weight bearing activity (such as swimming) so you still get a good cardio workout but without the impact. In addition try to also keep the hip muscles strong to help support the pelvis. This will help to keep the knee functioning well & ensures correct load bearing through it.
Knee anatomy
