We’re now fully into winter.
It’s now that time of year when, quite often, you need to spend 5 minutes de-icing your car before you can go anywhere.
But it’s not just our cars that need a little bit more care at this time of year.
Do your joints feel strange and a little bit stiff?
Maybe they ache more than usual?
Have you started to notice any clicks and cracks coming from your knees?
There’s been a few people in the clinic lately who have been struggling to put their finger on their aches and pains and not sure why it’s happening to them.
So you know that you’re not alone.
It happens every year, at this time of year, joint pain is one of the most common things we see.
Let me know if this sounds familiar…
There’s a few clicks of the knees every now and then, nothing painful and you think nothing of it.
Then as time goes on, whenever your knees click it’s painful and they start to ache a bit more – usually around the knee cap, and on the inside of your knee.
Sometimes after walking around the shops they start to ache and feel sore.
And getting back up again after relaxing with a cup of tea on the sofa, you start to notice that it takes a few steps for your knees ‘to get going’ again.
Which can make it difficult for you to get out of your car with ease.
Then the cold weather hits the North East and your joints begin to feel even WORSE.
I’m guessing most of that sounded familiar with knee pain at this time of year.
But why does it happen more and more to men and women aged 50+?
There’s a whole bunch of reasons that exist as to why joints in your body become more problematic in the winter time.
But the two most common reasons we see here in the Physio Rooms are these:
Cold weather naturally restricts the warmth of the blood that flows around your body, which helps keep you warm and mobile.
AND
The fact you’re much less likely to keep as active and mobile in the winter as you are in the warmer months.
Keeping mobile is just like spraying WD40 on the stiff parts of a bike or car.
Like a car needs oil to get from A to B efficiently – your joints need to keep active so they don’t stiffen up.
And here’s the thing that many people don’t realise – the winter months and long periods of inactivity can be the root cause of many years of what I call ‘all of a sudden’ life-long knee pains.
As your muscles get a long rest this winter, there’s a chance they will become weaker and slowly get to the point where they wont be able to support your knees.
Worse yet, many people don’t even notice it happening until the pain sets in.
Then when it does, a chain of events is triggered and when your knees don’t have the support of strong muscles, problems like arthritis can set in.
Which makes it important to make the most of every opportunity you have this winter to keep active, so you can fight off the curse of bad knees creeping up on you.
It’s easy to think that when the weather starts to warms up you’ll exercise again.
The problem with that is, very few people understand that your muscles need to be strong and stable to exercise safely!
If you go into tough exercise too quick, there’s a chance you’ll injure yourself and make those sore joints even worse!
So, my number one tip for you today to keep the winter aches away is to include some kind of activity in your day, everyday.
It doesn’t have to be outdoors either!
You can book yourself into an exercise class with friends, do low-impact movements that are kind to your joints like Pilates or Yoga from the comfort of your living room.
Even better, if you have an exercise bike or something similar, use it while watching your favourite TV programme.
There really is something for everyone.
So what are you going to do to keep active this winter?
For more tips like this and exercises that you can do without having to step foot outside in the cold, click here to receive your free information guide: www.paulgoughphysio.com/knee-pain to help you relieve annoying knee pain, and prevent it happening to you.
For more expert advice, read our other blogs or check out our YouTube channel:
Read Our Blog – 3 ‘Quick Fixes’ You THINK Help Knee Pain – But Don’t
Read Our Blog – 3 Simple Steps to Become More Flexible and Move Freely
Read Our Blog – What Do I Do When I Pull A Muscle?
Visit Our Paul Gough Physio Rooms YouTube Channel
You might know Paul as an expert Columnist who writes weekly health articles for TWO of the North East's biggest daily Newspapers, The Northern Echo And The Hartlepool Mail, he is a regular Speaker at Industry Seminars around the globe and a Radio Personality, often heard on the BBC. Paul has been an expert guest on dozens of Radio shows and regularly interviewed in newspapers, magazines and trade journals all over the world, including the Guardian.
Paul’s background included working extensively in the Premier League with a Top Professional Football Team, and since quitting his job in Professional Football in 2007, his Physio Practice has become the fastest growing in the UK and biggest in the North East. So successful, that companies like BUPA, ASDA, The Vela Group And Coast & Country, repeatedly retain his Physio company's services to keep healthy their own staff and workforce. Paul Gough Physio Rooms is now a large multi-physio, multi clinic speciality practice in Darlington, Durham, Guisborough and Hartlepool.
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