Hi All!
I do hope you all had a great Easter and those of you that are still on holiday…Go girl, enjoy!
Exercise during menopause is really important, although today I would like to concentrate on painful and stiff knees and what stretches you can do to help with these symptoms.
The reason for painful joints during menopause; there is a massive decline in Oestrogen which affects the collagen in our joints, so if you cannot take on Oestrogen then look at Oestrogen building foods, which I will cover in another newsletter…
In my job I am on my feet for around 8/10 hours a day, which I have been doing for over 20 years and before opening my studio I used to teach many classes which took its toll on my joints. So when I went to my GP he told me that what I was feeling was due to what I had put my body through, which was rather depressing to say the least!
Every day I would stretch for at least 20/30 minutes. I now only have to stretch after exercise as I have been on HRT for 5 months now and I feel 10 years younger! I am not going to talk about HRT today, but if you do have any questions related to HRT then do email me back.
I want to share with you today stretches for your knees, not only after exercise but every day if you are suffering , before doing these , please make sure your muscles are warm; walk around for at least 5 minutes before doing so, or of course any other type of cardio will do!
All of these should be performed for at least 20 seconds; you can hold them for longer which would help the pain. You can also do these as often as you like.
Use a chair for this, if you work at a desk, try and do this every hour, so walk around – get up and get some water which will be great for you also.
Quad stretch
This will help with your painful knees.
Push your hips forward when you do this, hold onto a chair or anything else for balance.
Hamstring stretch
Make sure your back t and knee are straight, if you pull the toes up towards
you then this will help stretch the calf – so you get 2 for the price of 1!
*with undertaking any new exercise regime please get the ok from your health professional or GP