Welcome to my site about tactics you can use to cope with hospitalization. I am Edward Collins. I created this site after a long hospitalization left me feeling uncomfortable and dying to go home. I was ill-prepared for the lengthy stay at that facility. Despite my nurses and doctors’ best efforts, I felt lonely, bored and somewhat isolated during my stay. On this site, I will help you prepare for hospitalization well before you need your next medical procedure. Please come by my site daily to learn the information you need to know. Thank you for visiting my website about preparing for hospitalization.
Chronic knee pain seems to have been on the rise in the U.S. over the last several decades, and researchers aren't entirely sure why. There are also a tremendous number of knee injuries—over 6 million people sought help from 1999 through 2008 in emergency rooms for knee injuries caused by everything from recreation to just walking on the stairs. If you're among the ranks of those with knee pain, whether the condition is chronic or the result of trauma, consider adding kettlebell training to your strength training or physical therapy. Learn more about how this form of exercise can be used for knee pain.
How does kettlebell training help with knee pain?
Kettlebells are cast-iron balls with handles attached. They got their start in Russian weightlifting, and they can weigh as little as 10 pounds or as much as 100 pounds. Unlike dumbbells, their weight isn't distributed evenly, which means that your body has to use its core strength to provide a counter balance and stabilize your movements when you swing one. This helps strengthen your hip abductors and hip external rotators and trains your body not to put so much strain on your knees as you balance and move.
Your knees essentially take their cues for movement from your hips, so any type of stiffness or weakness in your hips has a cumulative effect of making your knees strain harder. Anything you can do to reduce that strain ultimately helps reduce your knee pain.
How can you begin using kettlebells in your physical therapy routine?
The use of kettlebells is just starting to catch on outside of weightlifting and martial arts training, both of which require the ability to balance well, so your physical therapist may not have considered having you use one. Whether or not it is right for your particular knee problem is something that you need to discuss with your physical therapist before you start.
Once you're ready to get started, you can find a kettlebell in the right weight. Some experts recommend starting with an 18-pound kettlebell if you're a woman and a 26-pound kettlebell if you're a man, though you may need to start lower. If you can't lift the kettlebell without straining your back or reaching muscle exhaustion before you finish a set of exercises, you're using a kettlebell that's too heavy and need to go lower.
The exercises done with kettlebells are fairly simple—arm swings, knee lifts that require you to pass the kettlebell from one hand to the other under your raised knee, and squats while holding the kettlebell are common choices. Since the kettlebell is small and portable, these exercises can be done at home—but you should absolutely have your therapist introduce you to the proper movements for each exercise before you try any at home. That way, you know that your movements are helping, rather than creating additional problems. Your therapist will probably focus on making sure that you use your hips to lift properly and don't swing the kettlebell too wide for your body to compensate.
Share14 July 2016
