22nd December, 2015
By Sharon Jane Akinyemi
Let me ask you a question:
Are you one of the 27 million otherwise healthy Nigerians that suffer from painfully worn-out, stiff and woefully achy joints? After all, research shows that 43% of all adults over the age of 45 struggle with significant joint discomfort in their hands, knees, hips and/or spine.
Even worse, statistics go on to validate that by age 65 a whopping 80% of the population will have experienced substantially compromised joint structure — a condition which will only continue to get worse and worse with time if not proactively addressed.
Just think, are you already experiencing any of these 6 Advanced Signs of Rapidly Deteriorating Joint Health?
a. Activity-related painful joint flare-ups
b. Sleep disruption due to joint discomfort
c. Joint stiffness and/or swelling, particularly in the morning
d. Restricted range of motion and flexibility, making it difficult to perform activities like exercise or climbing stairs
e. Grinding, crackling, or popping sensations and sounds
f. Achy joints when sitting, standing, and/or performing simple movements
Even more, is this same crippling joint discomfort disrupting your life, preventing you from doing the things and activities you love most? Have you been sidelined due to your struggle with nagging joint distress, and even more sobering, are you concerned about losing your freedom to the burden of deteriorating joint health?
The ability to play with your kids or grandkids… to enjoy sports and activities… the pleasure of a simple walk around the neighborhood, or the freedom to leisurely work around the house… gardening, laundry, freely walking up and down the stairs… or sometimes, even just getting out of a chair…
Fact is, these concerns and the reality of joint deterioration are no laughing matter, and even worse, it seems almost inevitable that normal lifestyle and age-related joint problems will plague nearly everyone at some point for a multitude of reasons…
Through decades of wear and tear, joint degradation will always be a natural part of the aging process (unless you are doing something to proactively address it).
For every 20 Kg you’re overweight, an extra 96 Kg of pressure is exerted on your knees, ankles and spine with every mile walked. Just think of the enormous burden that is placing (and has placed) on your joints, especially over time…
Beyond the beating your joints take from carrying extra weight, excess body fat can further wreak havoc on your joints by causing the body to release cell-signaling molecules known as cytokines. These molecules are tied to the inflammatory response and in turn take already compromised joints and make them even worse.
A poor diet, especially one high in pro-inflammatory foods like refined carbohydrates and low-quality oils (found in extreme abundance in the typical Nigerian diet), further contribute to inflammation and intensify joint problems many times over.
In the end, whether you’re overweight, getting older, or even healthy and highly active, joint discomfort is something you’re probably dealing with right now, and again, unless these issues are brought under control, they will only continue to intensify over time and become increasingly more devastating.
Are you worried about…
The nightmare of waking up with crippling joint discomfort?
*Falling victim to activity-related joint flare ups or injuries that leave you bedridden for days or even weeks?
*The fear and embarrassment of no longer being able to participate in your favorite activities?
*The dread of losing sleep due to mind-numbing aches and joint soreness?
It all sounds very overwhelming, and it is. The fortunate news, however, is that there IS something you can do about it.
**Reducing joint discomfort
**Reducing joint swelling
**Reducing painful activity-related joint flare-ups
**Actually addressing the structural root causes of stiff, achy joints (instead of merely masking discomfort with ineffective, temporary solutions)
**Yielding FOUR times greater joint mobility and flexibility
And quite a bit more as you’ll see…
1. Poor collagen health, production, and formation. Collagen is the primary structural protein in cartilage — the spongy connective tissue that cushions the ends of your bones where your joints meet. Essentially, cartilage protects your bones from grinding against each other, bone on bone, which would be extremely painful. As this cartilage gradually deteriorates over time, however, less cushioning is available, leading to fragile, compromised joints, and increased joint discomfort and stiffness.
2. Inadequate levels of lubricating joint fluid. Joint fluid, known as synovial fluid, helps reduce the friction between bones by providing lubrication between cartilage. As cartilage deteriorates so does synovial fluid production, making it excessively difficult for joints to move freely without stiffness and discomfort.
3. Increased collagen breakdown. And finally, to make matters even worse, collagen degradation enzymes known as MMPs run rampant in compromised joints, leading to even more rapid collagen and cartilage deterioration
WALKING FOR LIFE
In fact, walking produces restorative, permanent joint-revitalizing results that you can feel in as little as 3 short days, and it does it within just 30 minutes per day. Seriously it is happening to me now!
Contrast that with mega doses of some drugs that “may” produce moderate results after 6 painfully long months, and you can clearly see why Walking is already being deemed the joint health supplement of the future.
But how exactly does Walking provide all of these incredible joint revitalizing, mobility-enhancing benefits in just 30 minutes per day? In order to understand that, we first have to understand the three common structural problems contributing to painfully worn-out, stiff and woefully achy joints as a result of the lifestyle and age-related factors we just discussed.
With worn out cartilage, poor lubrication, and ongoing accelerated collagen degradation, it’s easy to see how significant joint discomfort is a major problem for nearly everyone, and one that only continues to get worse as time goes on. But as I mentioned, there IS something you can do to address and REVERSE all 3 of these causes of poor joint health and debilitating discomfort, and that’s exactly what simple and consistent WALKING does.
Walking is free. It’s easy to do, and it’s easy on the joints. And there’s no question that walking is good for you. Walking is an aerobic exercise; a University of Tennessee study found that women who walked had less body fat than those who didn’t walk. It also lowers the risk of blood clots, since the calf acts as a venous pump, contracting and pumping blood from the feet and legs back to the heart, reducing the load on the heart. Walking is good for you in other ways as well.
1. Walking supports your joints. The majority of joint cartilage has no direct blood supply. It gets its nutrition from synovial or joint fluid that circulates as we move. Impact that comes from movement or compression, such as walking, “squishes” the cartilage, bringing oxygen and nutrients into the area. If you don’t walk, joints are deprived of life-giving fluid, which can speed deterioration. More over other benefits are that:
2. Walking improves circulation. It also wards off heart disease, brings up the heart rate, lowers blood pressure and strengthens the heart. Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Tennessee found that post-menopausal women who walked just one to two miles a day lowered blood pressure by nearly 11 points in 24 weeks. Women who walked 30 minutes a day reduced their risk of stroke by 20 percent – by 40 percent when they stepped up the pace, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
3. Walking shores up your bones. It can stop the loss of bone mass for those with osteoporosis, according to Michael A. Schwartz, MD, of Plancher Orthopedics. In fact, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, study of post-menopausal women found that 30 minutes of walking each day reduced their risk of hip fractures by 40 percent.
4. Walking leads to a longer life. Recent research out of the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System says those who exercise regularly in their fifties and sixties are 35 percent less likely to die over the next eight years than their non-walking counterparts. That number shoots up to 45 percent less likely for those who have underlying health conditions.
5. Walking lightens mood. A California State University, Long Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were. Why? Walking releases natural pain killing endorphins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise.
6. Walking can lead to weight loss. A brisk 30-minute walk burns 200 calories. Over time, calories burned can lead to kilograms dropped.
7. Walking strengthens muscles. It tones your leg and abdominal muscles – and even arm muscles if you pump them as you walk. This increases your range of motion, shifting the pressure and weight from your joints and muscles – which are meant to handle weight – helping to lessen arthritis pain.
8. Walking improves sleep. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that women, ages 50 to 75, who took one-hour morning walks, were more likely to relieve insomnia than women who didn’t walk.
9. Walking improves your breath. When walking, your breathing rate increases, causing oxygen to travel faster through bloodstream, helping to eliminate waste products and improve your energy level and the ability to heal.
10. Walking slows mental decline. A study of 6,000 women, ages 65 and older, performed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that age-related memory decline was lower in those who walked more. The women walking 2.5 miles per day had a 17-percent decline in memory, as opposed to a 25-percent decline in women who walked less than a half-mile per week.
11. Walking lowers Alzheimer’s risk. A study from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville found that men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who walked less.
12. Walking helps you do more, longer. Aerobic walking and resistance exercise programs may reduce the incidence of disability in the activities of daily living of people who are older than 65.
Instead, your joints will feel revitalized, you’ll move freely with each smooth and effortless step, and you’ll once again rest your head easy and sleep comfortably each night…all with just 30 minutes each day.
Fact is, there’s no reason for you or a loved one to spend another minute suffering from debilitating joint discomfort. Act now and engage in this mobility-enhancing activity- WALK, WALK AND WALK.
•For questions and answers connect with me @ www.facebook.com/BodyConfidenceFitnessClub.