Tips for Losing Weight to Treat Knee Pain
Knee pain is a common problem from which millions of people suffer on a daily basis. In almost all of them, one condition is pervasive, i.e., obesity or excess weight. These people need to know how to lose weight with bad knees. It is because if they keep continuing with their unhealthy eating habits, their knee joints will no longer be able to accommodate the weight and ultimately give up.
A healthy lifestyle is essential to the proper maintenance of weight. By understanding the link between knee pain and body weight, you can know why you need to lose weight to get rid of this condition.
How Your Weight Affects the Health of Your Knee Joints
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Excess body weight puts excess pressure on the joints of the knee and the back. It causes wear and tear of the knee joint. Hence, you become prone to developing osteoarthritis, a painful condition that affects the knee joint. Such a prolonged pressure on your knees swell and inflames it. Obesity is linked to high inflammation levels in the body. The more inflamed your body is, the more pain you will experience. As you lose weight, the levels of inflammation in your body will decrease. It, in turn, will reduce the pressure in your knee joints and will provide you relief from pain.
You must be wondering about the best way to lose weight with bad knees. It is not difficult to do so. The best way is to start incorporating healthy eating habits in your life and take time out for physical activity.
How Can I Lose Weight with Bad Knees?
Physical therapy exercises
Swimming
Eat high protein meals
Avoid highly processed foods
Physical Therapy Exercises
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Physical therapists are experts who guide you through certain gentle exercises that help a lot in strengthening your muscles. Your doctor may refer you to a physical therapist. It’s crucial for you to understand all the exercises they tell you and practice them yourself at home every day. This way, you’ll prevent your knee pain from becoming worse.
Some common physical therapy exercises for treating knee pain are lying bridge position, straight leg raise, and heel and calf stretching exercises.
Swimming
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Swimming is a beneficial exercise for people to incorporate into their daily routines. It is perhaps the best exercise to do when losing weight with bad knees. Movements, when done in water like those in pool aerobics, allow your joint to work without any pressure against it. Moreover, they increase your strength so that you can progress to more demanding exercises like fast walking on a treadmill. You can also simply dance for half an hour to burn calories and lose weight.
Eat High Protein Meals
High protein meal, Credit: Pixabay
Incorporating a recommended dose of about 25-30 grams of protein in every meal will keep you full for a long time. Thus, you’ll not get any unwanted cravings and lose weight fast. Such weight loss meals can be made by combining protein with fiber, as the latter will help facilitate good digestive health.
Vegetable omelette and oatmeal with protein powder are good combinations of protein and fiber rich meals.
Avoid Highly Processed Foods
Unhealthy food, Credit: Pixabay
Avoiding junk and processed food is the ultimate answer to the question, how to lose weight with bad joints. Avoid all food items that have high sugar, salt, and fat content. Foods that are high in saturated and trans fat contribute to a greater cholesterol level in your body. They build fatty deposits in the blood vessels and put you at greater risk of developing certain heart conditions.
The tips mentioned above will help you lose excess weight and get rid of your knee pain. A weight loss of even 4-5 kgs will immensely reduce the intensity of the pain, thereby providing you more comfort in doing everyday activities. Now that you know how to lose weight with bad knees and back, it would only be a matter of time before you start enjoying an improved quality of life.
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