Try Tai Chi And Hydrotherapy For Arthritis Pain Relief
Tai chi, taken as an exercise, can bring arthritis pain relief to the knees. Tai chi was developed in China as a form of self-defense around 2,000 years ago.
It features slow, rhythmic movements to increase strength, flexibility and balance. It requires just 20 minutes a day of the slow, dance-like movements of tai chi to create balance, flexibility and calmness. And,
Why is Tai Chi so popular these days? And why do 180 million people worldwide practice Tai Chi every day?
It is because those who do practice every day have a longer, more active life than those who don’t, and their health potential increases dramatically.
Other exercises dissipate your energy, while Tai Chi accumulates it. And, it leaves you feeling refreshed when you finish.
Recent medical studies confirm that just 20 minutes a day of Tai Chi can improve your balance (and significantly cut the risk of falls among older people).
Tai chi exercises improve your leg and lower body strength, increase flexibility, help with arthritis pain
And, a recent study presented at the American Heart Association meeting even found that just 12 weeks of Tai Chi resulted in a small but significant drop in blood pressure in older people.
Both water-based exercise and Tai Chi can help older people with severe arthritis move and feel better, researchers from Australia report.
Among men and women 60 and older with chronic osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, those who participated in 12 weeks of hydrotherapy or Tai Chi, showed significant improvements in pain and physical function scores.
Those were the findings of Marlene Fransen of The George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney.
After 12 weeks, there were significant improvements on scores measuring pain and physical function.
At 24 weeks, all improvements were greater than have been demonstrated in studies of traditional land-based exercise for arthritis patients, the researchers noted.
Hydrotherapy is also a form of arthritis pain relief. People have known for a long time that soaking in water can be very therapeutic.
A new study shows hydrotherapy, or water exercise, may improve strength and mobility in patients with osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is primarily a disease of weight-bearing joints. Being in water helps you eliminate or greatly reduce the load on your joints.
This allows some exercises to be pain-free in water that would otherwise aggravate you knees.
The pool also allows you to start very gently. A common reason for people giving up on exercise is that they start too fast, too soon.
This causes a flare up and the natural response is “I’m not doing that again……I could not walk for days”
Start in chest high water and walk some laps. If this doesn’t bother your knees before or after, add some shallow squats.
Osteoarthritis is ‘wear and tear’ of the joints. If you are looking for a miracle cure you will be disappointed.
Anyone claiming to cure arthritis with a tablet, herb or gel is preying on those in chronic pain. What you need is the information to make the correct decisions.
Want to know more about arthritis pain relief??
Then, post your question below.
Yours truly for great health, mind and body,
Michelle, natural health advocate
October 30 2009 04:33 pm | Fitness and Natural Remedies
January 17th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Ah, I’m glad I added your blog to my feed reader, otherwise I’d have missed this. Thanks for this, and a great 2010 to you.