“Move it or lose it” – “Motion is lotion” – “Keep moving” – “Git up and go”
If you’re a patient with us at 360-ORTHOPEDICS, you’ll hear these words of advice to keep your joints and muscles at their peak performance. Why? Problems arise when you stop moving. We spend about a third of our life sleeping. What would happen if you stayed there? What would happen if you stopped moving?
Your muscles and organs need oxygen to stay healthy. Movement encourages that flow of oxygen to keep you moving. Without it, muscles decrease and you lose 10% strength each week without movement. Bones lose mass. Your heart rate goes up. Your blood volume goes down. Your endurance declines making it harder to move. If you’ve ever had to stay in a hospital bed for a period of time, you already know how quickly your body stiffens.
Of course, we’re not going to plan on remaining in bed for prolonged periods of time, but let’s consider one of the things that keep us from moving on a daily basis … sitting. It’s almost as harmful as smoking! Prolonged sitting can be detrimental to your health even if you are otherwise fit with an optimum BMI (body mass index). Studies have shown sitting to be a contributing factor to increased blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Experts tell us we should sit no more than three hours in a day and for many, particularly those with a desk job, that’s impossible. A good guideline to follow is to take a break and stand once every hour. You may even want to set a timer to get up and stretch for a few minutes.
Some other things you can do to maintain your muscle and joint health:
Bottom line, moving is key to a healthy body, so “GIT UP”. Check out this link to see how our staff at 360-ORTHOPEDICS took on the latest dance craze, the “Git Up Challenge” (by Blanco Brown) to encourage our patients to keep moving! We hope it inspires YOU to “Git Up” too.
Like us on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter, or on LinkedIn.
