They say beauty is skin deep and health starts from the inside out, and yet it's easy to forget to take care of your bone and joint health. This article will explain four simple exercises you can do at the gym, at work, or in the comfort of your own home to release tension from your joints and strengthen your bones.
What Affects Bone and Joint Health?
Our bones and joints perform a number of vital functions, from making us stand upright and producing new blood cells.
Some of the most common things that affect bone and joint health are:
- Aging - Cartilage tends to become thinner or more brittle as we age.
- Injuries - Injuries we got when we were younger can emerge as a problem decades later.
- Inflammation - Inflammatory cells can gather at a site of injury and release chemicals destructive to cartilage.
- Muscle Loss - With less muscle tissue acting as shock absorbers, your joints absorb more pounding from daily use, contributing to more damage.
- Excess Weight - The more load a joint has to carry, the more damage it experiences in the long run. This is especially true for knees, which have to support your entire body weight.
But, don't worry! These facts are merely cautionary guidelines. You can still help reverse or prevent most joint and bone conditions with a little diligence.
4 Bone and Joint Strengthening Exercises
1.
Tap to Improve Circulation: When you don’t move your body enough, inflammation can occur and wreak havoc on joints. To cool inflammation, keep your blood, lymph and synovial fluid (a natural lubricant in the joints) moving. The best exercise to stimulate circulation in the whole body quickly is
body tapping, which consists of tapping with your palms or fingertips along the body’s
meridian points and channels. Meridian channels hold onto blockages, so tapping helps to release those blockages and tension, raise your body temperature, and stimulate blood circulation.
2.
Go for Walks: The leaner and stronger your muscles are, the stronger and more flexible is your cartilage and connective tissue. One of the simplest, low impact exercises for increasing bone strength and flexibility is
walking meditation. Walking is a weight-bearing exercise that helps new bone tissue to form. Aim for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and you can even move up to jogging to amp up your exercise.
3.
Keep Your Balance: When our joints are weak or misaligned, it throws off our balance. One of the most effective exercises for both preventing bone loss and restoring balance and flexibility in your arms, hips, and leg bones is
Plate Balancing exercise. This exercise helps you use and rotate all the joints in your body, since it involves rotating the hips and stretching the arms and legs out as much as you can while keeping balance.
4.
Joint Self-Massage: Research has shown that joint massage therapy has been beneficial in soothing achy joints, headaches, and even
helping to prevent osteoarthritis. Whenever you're feeling stiff or achy, take just a few minutes to give your joints a loving massage. Sit or stand in a quiet place and close your eyes. Put your right hand on your left shoulder and massage out the knots and tension. Move to your elbow, wrist and hand with the same process. Switch to the right side and continue until you've sent warm, loving energy to every joint.
The best practice is to choose the exercises that appeal most to you. If you’re interested in an online course that incorporates all these exercises in addition to guided meditations, try the
Solar Body Method online course. Soon you'll be moving more easily, feeling better, and making your bones and joints healthier and stronger!