6000 Steps a Day Help Keep Knee Limitations Away
The National institute of Health and American College of Rheumatology have published a study that indicates walking will drastically reduce the risks of developing Osteoarthritis (OA) in people who have higher risks of getting it. Functional limitations like difficulty getting up from a chair and climbing stairs can be reduced significantly.
Many Americans aged just 25 years are now diagnosed as suffering from Osteoarthrits knees whereas earlier reports mentioned that OA knees is mostly common among middle-aged and older adults. Medical evidence reports that persons diagnosed with OA walk less than 90 minutes weekly on average. Walking is a common physical activity which can be performed daily by all adults. 80% of OA patients experience a limitation in their movements while 11% of adults have a disability to the extent that they need assistance with personal care.
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Super Squash
Squash is a racquet sport played with a small, hollow rubber ball by two or four players in a four walled court. Players alternate in striking the ball against the wall. This sport was founded in New York in 1924 and then spread to America, Canada and eventually around the globe. Squash is an excellent form of cardiovascular workout. In one hour of squash, a player expends approximately 600-1000 kilo calories. Forbes 2003 rated squash as one of the healthiest games to play.
Squash is a game which involves moving around and changing directions rapidly. With all of this movement, chances of sustaining injuries are high. The best known squash injury is tennis elbow (although incidences are less common than tennis). Playing squash can injure your shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle as these are used the most. Ocular injuries due to an oncoming ball should be avoided at all costs.
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Exercises to Reduce Hand and Wrist Pain
If you find that using your hand or wrist is difficult as of late, then you might be suffering from wrist tendonitis. This is a condition that arises out of overuse or excessive weight lifting, among other things. Any stress or strain on the wrist that overstretches the tendons and ligaments that form the joint could lead to swelling, pain, redness and difficulty in movements at this very vital joint. Depending on the severity of the pain, here are a few exercises that you can do to bring back the wring in your wrist.
- Alternate flexion and extension-
Suspend your hand loosely in air from the edge of a table and bend the palm inwards towards the table. Hold it at the point of maximum bend (flexion) for 5 seconds. Slowly bring your hand back to a neutral position and then bend it backwards. Do not do this if it’s too painful. If it’s possible, do it gently and hold the maximally extended position for 5 seconds and release. Do the bending inwards and backwards alternately for 10 counts in each direction.
- Alternate palm rotation- Read more
Exercises to Reduce Back Pain
The back bears the brunt of our mobility. The spine that helps us hold our head high and literally rise above other animals that walk the earth, pays a huge price for this anti-gravity action. It is essential that we take care of the back, especially the lower back that transmits the entire upper body weight to the lower limbs. Those who suffer from backache due to any reason realize the importance of this vital part of our skeletal and muscular system. Here are some tips that will help you deal with back pain to prevent you from becoming a slave to chronic backache.
- Maintain correct posture- poor posture is one of the most common reasons for backache amongst people, especially those having sedentary jobs. A study confirmed that those with back pain compared to people with no back pain and those with a higher intensity of pain had higher tendencies to sway. This means that maintaining good posture is vital to prevent non-specific back pain that can often be disabling if chronic. Habits for good posture are sitting or standing erect, without stooping or hunching the shoulders.
- Play sports- Engaging regularly in sports like swimming, running or walking in waist-deep water helps in maintaining back strength and stability. Studies have found that aquatic exercises are better than land-based exercises in regards to chronic lower back pain control. Read more
The Aces of the Bases
The United States is one ‘Happy Nation’ when it comes to their national sport Baseball. Americans are ‘Aces’ whether it is in playing the game or being a mere spectator. The number of world cups bagged by Americans or the attendance of around seventy five million fans in professional games per year is ample proof of both.
Baseball is a field sport played on a diamond shaped field between two teams. Each team consists of nine players. It’s played with a ball which is made up of yarn wound around a cork covered with hide and a bat made up of wood in the shape of a stick. The team which scores the most runs wins the game. A pitcher throws the ball to an offensive player. A score is earned when an offensive player advances from the batter to the bases from the first, second, third and home base in counter clock-wise direction. As compared to other field sports like football, hockey or rugby, baseball is a less aggressive game. Injuries due to collision or trauma are lesser and more due to overuse of tissues.
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Fun Run!
Whether you are a four year old boy or an old centurion, running is a sport which is enjoyed by the people of all age groups. In fact, world records have been set by these youngest and the oldest marathoners, Budhia Singh and Fauja Singh respectively. As the spring sets in, the temperatures are soothing enough to step out in the inviting sun and run against the soft wind blowing on your face. Exploring the country side and rejuvenating yourself amidst the budding flowers makes one feel alive in the heart of Mother Nature.
Cross country running as a sport does not require much equipment, but it surely requires a good exercise and training regimen to keep you on track for a long time. The benefits of this sport are similar to any other form of sport. People with co morbid conditions like diabetes or heart ailments too can enjoy this form of physical fitness program under guided supervision of a trainer.
The most important equipment required for running is the right foot wear based on the shape of your feet. It is important to select a show with correct arches as a person can have a neutral, flat or a high arch. An ill fitted shoe can give rise to a condition known as plantar fasciitis where the insole of the foot can get inflamed and give rise to pain. Another common condition that can occur is an inflamed tendo-Achilles, where a person experiences pain at the back of the heel due to inflammation of the tendons at the heels.
Over-enthusiasm with a rigorous training program, or increasing the distance of running too fast than what you have been used to, can give rise to a runner’s knee where a person experiences pain under the knee cap. There can be pain while doing any activity that requires movement at the knee joint like sitting, standing, and climbing stairs. A shin split where the shin gets affected due to a pull of the muscles of the lower leg too can occur due to overuse. Rest, pain killers and ice fomentation give relief. A good warm up and stretches prior to the run and cooling down after the run can prevent most of the injuries from happening.
After all, to run the rat race, you need to be an ace of the fitness race!
Penned by Dr. Rachita Narsaria, MDReferences:
http://www.active.com/running/articles/6-common-running-injuries-to-avoid
Enjoy Soccer this Spring
Dating back to the eighth century, soccer or football is the most widely played and watched sport. In fact, over 250 million players score goals across 200 nations today. Every guy has at some point of time in his life tried his hands, rather feet, at this high adrenaline sport.
Soccer involves extensive foot work both while scoring a goal and defending one. Except the goalkeeper, no other player may use his hands or arms to touch the ball at any point during the game. Netting the ball into the opponent’s goal gives points that pile on to decide the winning team. The court is a rectangular outdoor field and the spherical football is kicked around its length and breadth by eleven players from each team to score goals. Soccer involves two halves lasting forty five minutes each during which goals must be scored. There is also a fifteen minute half-time break between the two halves.
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Reach for Your Goal with Basketball
While chilly winters can be party poopers for outdoor fun, indoor sports can more than compensate with their gaming spirit. Basketball is one such indoor sport where one need not compromise on the fun in the least.
Two teams compete in taking charge of an orange ball across a rectangular court and shooting it through the opponent’s basket to net goals. The basket is a narrow net suspended from a circular hoop placed ten feet above the ground against a backboard; one in each of the team’s courts. Goals add up to points and points to a winning game. No more than 5 players from each team may be present on the court at a time and unlimited substitutions can be made. Clad in jersey and shorts, taller players are preferred for the game but precision of netting the ball from a distance is the most requisite skill. The ball can be dribbled across the court to reach the opponent’s basket while their players defend the goal by trying to take charge of the basketball from the oncoming player.
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Add Some fun to the Season with Curling
As the first snowflakes appear, we all start gearing up for three to four months of winter fun. While obvious sports like skiing and sledding peak through the winters, indoor games like curling can be a lot of fun too. Not your run-of-the-mill activity, curling dates back to early 1800s when the kings and queens of Scotland curled in their winter castles. Eventually, it spread all over the world and was played first at the Olympic Winter Sports in 1924.
While curling, players aim at sliding polished granite stones/rocks across sheets of ice at the target which is similar to a dart board, except it’s imprinted on the horizontal sheet of ice. The target has four rings and is called ‘house’. Four players divided into teams of two each, take turns to achieve the best score in the game using aiming skills. Eight stones are provided to each team and the points are scored based on where the stones rest on the concentric rings; the closer one is to the house, the higher the points scored. Once each team has used up all their stones, it is called as an end and each game has eight to ten such ends.
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Try Endurance Running
Have you ever wanted to try an interesting or unique sport? Do you have limited time in your daily routine to branch out into new activities? Put a new spin on a traditional concept and become an endurance runner! Regardless of your age, endurance running might be the key to better health and more excitement in your life.
As one of the oldest activities, running has been a popular pastime for thousands of years. Recently though, long-distance running has become more popular than ever. To get a better idea of who runs long distances, 1200 ultramarathon runners were sampled in a recent study. Unsurprisingly, the sample group was healthier than the general population. Surprisingly though, half were older than 42. The only common medical issues experienced were knee, foot, or allergy related.[1]
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