Living an active lifestyle

 

Many people worry that exercise can be harmful to their joints.It isn’t!

In fact studies that have looked at the rate of things like osteoarthritis in the hips and knees of runners have found that you have less chance of developing osteoarthritis if you jog regularly than some one who does not.

Exercising regularly is not only beneficial for your joints but it cuts the risk of many other things too (see the chart above).

It is therefore probably the greatest lifestyle choice you can take to lower your risk from ill health.

Hopefully you're reading this because you are motivated to become more active. Whether this is because you want to lower your risk of developing musculoskeletal pain or because you have pain already and want to improve your symptoms read on to find out how much exercise is recommended and ideas for getting going.

150 minutes a week- don't panic!

Recent guidelines suggest 150 minutes across the week. If this sounds a lot don’t panic! You can build this into your normal day to day activities. The video below describes how some people acheive their weekly 150 minutes and some tips and tricks for staying motivated.

 

 

What types of exercise?

 

As you can see from the video above any sort of physical activity can count, however the important thing is to stay motivated.

One of the biggest challenges and barriers to an active lifestyle is being so busy with everything else in life that it doesn't seem like there is time.The best way to overcome this is to set yourself regular days and times to exercise and stick to these. That weay the exercise forms part of your routine and your much more likely to acheive it.

If your new to exercise here are some suggestions to get you going:

Set yourself a challenge- the couch to 5K challenge is a great way to get into running

 

Work out at home? The NHS has created some home workout routines for you to try. There are aerobic routines for beginners, yoga routines for new mums, and even an introduction to belly dancing class! click the image below to visit the NHS studio.

Activity tracking through the day:

Let your phone keep tabs on your fitness and activity levels through the day. There are hundreds of Apps available for this, click the link below to see a selection of current options.

 

Finally if you have an existing pain problem, visit our exercise for persisting pain page to get some tips on how to get going.