If you suffer from any kind of arthritis, it can be depressing at times – it’s hard to get to grips with the need for every day motion and exercise. There are thousands of seniors these days who insist they can’t do exercise because their knees hurt or their hip aches. The number who suffer back ache is also quite frightening. This is borne out by the number of them down at the gym. The local medical centres here are referring all pensioners to gyms to take up the opportunity to just get moving and off their solid behinds. It is very obvious the many of them have not done any proper exercise for years. It is interesting to watch some of the men trying to squirm out of doing what they consider ‘girlie’ things, like using the window sills along the gym wall for stability whilst the trainer bellows out instructions for swinging one leg front and back – not unlike a ballet dancer at the bar. One particular trainer has her mantra “motion is the lotion” . . . . . which is to signify that we cannot replace the rapidly disappearing synovial fluid in our joints, so we must exercise under proper instruction and our limbs will begin to move more freely.
Those of us who have seriously damaged ankles and feet obviously can’t put much pressure on them but there are many brlliant seated whole body workouts available – the ones that start off with a warm up and finish with a proper cool down are best. Getting all that trapped lactose moving out of the system is essential. It is possible to reduce the inflammation probem drastically after having teriod jabs, but it needs constant exercise to keep those joints fluid.