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Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023

Low-Impact, Big Results

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Knee-friendly exercises for your new year’s resolution

As we finish the holiday season and head into Mardi Gras, a few of us may already regret all the great food we have had over the last few weeks. As we get back in gear for the new year, we all think, “I need to exercise and get back into shape!” Staying active and losing weight can be difficult, especially when you suffer from hip and knee pain. Worry not! I will share with you a few hip and knee exercises that will be easy on your joints and help you stay active.

Think low impact. Activities that limit the hard, pounding impact on your knees are great exercises for anyone suffering from knee pain. This condition’s number one cardiovascular exercise is cycling or working out on a stationary bike. Every gym has several stationary bikes; I’m sure many of you use Pelotons as coat racks at home! Get on the bike and strengthen your legs. Start with a low-resistance workout and then slowly build up. Work out for 30–60 minutes three times a week. Riding a bike is a great way to strengthen your thigh muscles. This will help you stay in shape and reduce the pressure on your knees. It will also help relieve knee pain in many people.

Jump in the pool. For those of you who have access to a pool, this is an excellent way to exercise without overly stressing your joints. Swimming can take a significant amount of stress off your joints and help to reduce your hip and knee pain as you exercise. Shreveport-Bossier does not have an abundant supply of indoor pools. However, the YMCA on Knight Street has an excellent pool and offers swimming classes at various times of the day, which you could use.

Get on the elliptical. The elliptical machine is a great way to elevate your heart rate while putting minimal stress on your hip and knee joints. This is a low-impact exercise that can help strengthen your arms and legs. You can set various levels of resistance and time on these machines. Start with an easy setting and then gradually increase the speed and duration of the exercise. This machine requires minimal knee movement, which is excellent for people struggling with knee arthritis.

Hit the gym. Several pieces of exercise equipment around the weight room can help strengthen your leg muscles (quadriceps) to a great extent. Any exercise that strengthens the quads will help reduce pressure on the knee and act as a shock absorber for the knee. In turn, this will help you with your knee pain. Thus, if you strengthen your leg muscles, you can reduce your knee pain. Leg presses, lunges and squats are all great exercises that can help strengthen your legs and core. You might need some help to ensure you do the technique correctly. Start with low weights and high repetitions. Two exercises I would avoid are leg extensions and leg curls. In these two exercises, your feet would be dangling free on the machine and not “planted” on either the ground or a metal plate. Exercises in which your feet are not planted are called “open chain” exercises. Such exercises put more stress on your knees than a standing squat, a “closed chain” exercise.

Become a yogi. That’s right, start doing yoga! Yoga is a great way to strengthen your core and leg muscles with minimal repetitive movements on your joints. Yoga helps improve the flexibility of your joints and develop your strength. If the thought of going to a yoga class seems a bit intimidating (which I completely understand), might I suggest doing it at home? You can buy a yoga mat from Target for just $13 and do yoga by watching tutorial videos at home. There are countless yoga tutorials available for free on YouTube, just a few clicks away.

Returning to routine is the hardest thing to face after the holiday season. With all the delicious king cakes around town, it might be hard to eat healthily and stay fit. Give yourself some grace but get back at it soon. Invest in your health, which will pay you high dividends in the long run.

Jeffrey Pearson, M.D. is a fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in anterior total hip replacement and robotic knee replacement. To schedule an appointment, visit https:// orthopedicspecialistsla.com/ or call 318-635-3052.

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