is arthritis a lifestyle disease?

EVERYONE HAS ARTHRITIS!

Osteoarthritis is a form of degenerative change in joints. It's a matter of load vs. capacity. When the load in a joint is too high, for too long, the joint wears down. Simply put, it's the wearing down of the protective tissue in joints.

How does arthritis occur? Like I said before, it's due to an imbalance of load vs. capacity. Let’s take Bob for example. Three years ago Bob used to be a couch potato. He didn't work, didn't train and quite frankly, he didn't really do much of anything that required physical exertion. He averaged about 1,000 steps per day. You could say that Bob’s capacity was quite low.

Now, Bob has been working a manual labor job for the past three years. Unfortunately, he's started to develop a bit of knee pain. Why? Bobs capacity <  load. Meaning, what his body could tolerate is less than the physical exertion (or stress) he’s experiencing on a daily basis. Now that Bob is working and far more physically active, his load has significantly increased.

Unfortunately, Bob’s capacity is still quite low. Although Bob’s capacity is now 3,000 steps per day, his load is 9,000 steps! This means the load is far greater than the capacity. In other words, the stress placed on Bob’s body is too much for it to handle & joints start to break down. That’s arthritis for ya.

Bob has arthritis. Don’t be like Bob.

What do you need to do to decrease your risk of developing arthritis? Increase your capacity. If your capacity is already high, then you need to maintain it. This is reason #3,975 why training is important.

EVERYTHING you do on a daily basis is interpreted by the body as stress, aka ‘load’. Things like your nutrition, training regimen, sleep and how you manage other stressors is what makes up your capacity. Eat better. Train smarter. Sleep better.

Now as a Physio, my area of expertise covers the ‘train smarter’ part. But what does that really mean? Training smart means finding the right amount of exercise that yields results, without just adding more stress to the body. Its also about finding the right exercises FOR YOU. Exercises that address your weakness or inefficiencies. If you move well and move often, you’ll have the capacity to handle anything life throws at you.

How can Physiotherapy help someone like Bob? Get Bob to move well. This means making sure he has the required range of motion and flexibility to perform, both at work and in the gym. Next, make sure he has the strength. This is achieved by addressing side-to-side and top-to-bottom strength imbalances. Lastly, get really, really good at the big movements i.e. squats, deadlifts, pressing and pulling. Think of it this way, if you can deadlift 200kg five times, deadlifting 10kg one-hundred times is no sweat.

If you’re curious how you can train smarter, not only to decrease your risk of injury but increase your performance, send me a message or comment below. Or you can visit the ‘Physiotherapy Services’ page to book a session.

Dr. Cory Myers, The Practical Physio

Helping the #EverydayAthlete increase performance and recover from injury so they can train hard and stay injury free.