Need to lose weight but your back pain won’t let you exercise? Eager to get fit but your knee pain stops you from running or walking? Or is your arthritis giving you physical limitations?
Whether you are an active athlete recovering from injuries, or a senior citizen looking to find joint friendly exercise activities, look no further! Here are 5 activities that may help you do just want your heart has always wanted to do.
And these recommendations come backed by my own personal experience discovering and trying out each of these.
If you have read my previous posts, you may remember me sharing about my back pain and my knee pain. If you would like to read it again or learn about a miraculous joint supplement right under your nose, please click the link here.
To recap, I had put on about 30 pounds with my second pregnancy. Which happened to be within a year of my first pregnancy. And did I say my first pregnancy had granted me another 5 to 10 pounds?
If your story is similar, may we say we were well-endowed? lol
During the second pregnancy I happened to get an episode of intense back spasms. I was getting ready to go to work. I heard a pop, and then my back muscles just tightened up really hard. There seemed no way to hold my balance but to fall right on my butt. Thank heavens for the carpet on the closet floor!
Many months later, I realized the spasms were probably triggered by a low vitamin D level besides core weakening from the back to back pregnancies.
But immediately following the fall, I would get an on and off pain in my tailbone with prolonged sitting during the pregnancy.
Again, when I started work a few months after delivery, the pain came back with prolonged sitting.
It didn’t help either that lifting anything as heavy as a gallon of milk would give me back spasms.
What was a way out? Definitely losing weight might help….or so I thought.
Meanwhile, about a year after the delivery, I tore my right knee meniscus going up some steps. If you are not familiar with the word meniscus, it is the cushioning tissue between the bones in the knee.
I used a knee brace initially in the hopes the meniscus would heal on its own. It didn’t matter if I was limping from the pain. Avoiding the blade seemed to be my goal. But the meniscus was there to tell its tale. I ended up having it surgically repaired after about four months.
The few months on the brace and the modified walking left the front muscles of my right thigh weakened. So, trivial trauma like walking or even carrying a laptop between the patient rooms at work would make my knee lock back or hurt. I had lost some of the shock absorption in my knee offered by my thigh muscles.
What was a way out of the knee pain? Definitely losing weight..…now where had I heard that before?
But how do I lose weight when I am not able to walk, let alone run? Yes low impact exercises may hold promise…..as in biking. But how do I bike when my tail bone hurts with sitting. Especially when the position on a stationary bike brought on terrible pain.
Like a good physician, I got myself into physical therapy for my back and my knee.
But I still needed to lose weight.
But just what activities can I do when I have back pain and knee pain, to lose weight?
If you are in such a dilemma, please read on to find your way out….
1. Water walking:
The easiest and simplest thing I could do. Where do I find the time and a water source? The nearest LA fitness by my work became my refuge.
Whenever patient flow permitted, I could get there in our hour long lunch break. The time left after food was mostly spent walking in the water. Which meant I had to prepare ahead for the day with swim clothes. But it was a teeny tiny price to pay for the benefits of water walking.
So what are the benefits of water walking?
- Low impact: the water takes your weight off your joints and your back.
- Strength building along with aerobic activity: moving against the resistance of water offers strength training for your muscles. Imagine waving your arm left to right in air. Now imagine doing the same in water. Did you notice a difference? Yes it is slower in water and takes more effort. Because you ae working against the resistance created by the water medium.
- No training needed: can be done even if you don’t know swimming….like me at that time.
- Relaxing: spending time in the water actually was refreshing, in the middle of the workday. The afternoon work session became more enjoyable.
2. Water aerobics:
I may have been in my mid thirties but my body for sure felt like in the mid-sixties. What do you do when life gives you lemons? I would say, make lemonade.
With my activity restricted to what one would expect in their sixties and beyond, I decided to played along. I took to the activities that one could do in their sixties. And it had to be of low impact.
What is the first thing that comes to mind about activities in a senior center? In the most recent episode of Arthur that my son and I watched, it was water aerobics.
It did not matter how old my fellow fitness seekers were. We had fun. Most of them were very friendly and even helpful. I remain grateful for their suggestions on how to conquer the deeper parts of the pool during our workout. This was very helpful since I didn’t know swimming.
So, what are the benefits of water aerobics?
Pretty much similar to water walking:
- Low impact
- Strength building along with aerobic activity:
- No swimming training needed
- Relaxing
3. Yoga:
Have you ever been on a yoga mat? Many years back, I had not. I was in fact surprised when one of my assistants at my first job found that yoga helped relieve his back pain.
I had done yoga growing up, taught by my mother. But that was just a home routine or so I thought. Little did I know there was more to the therapeutic benefits of yoga.
Did I mention that I also went through a divorce in the first two years of my son’s life? That is around the time my back and my knee teamed up against me. When I moved out of the house, my number one self-care activity was to get myself into yoga. A groupon to our nearest yoga studio that crossed my path made it even more alluring…..
Almost like a divine intervention….
In fishing terms, like a prize catch 😉
Having practiced yoga in different versions over the years, I can see the clarity in my assistant’s observation.
So what are the benefits of yoga?
- Low impact
- Can strengthen muscles based on which practice you follow
- Increases flexibility and range of motion: yoga may be the love-child of mindfulness meditation and long term physical therapy
- Can be done at all levels, even without prior experience
- Holistic healing: healing our chakras, body and mind
- Relaxation: the only side effect I can think of.
Of course, I had to make sure the poses would not hurt my joints more…so I was careful to do it under supervision. And using modified poses. It may be a good idea to share your physical limitation with your yoga instructor upfront, so they can modify the poses for you. It’s about what works for you: it feels so instinctual and natural. Isn’t that just beautiful!
If your joint limitations or struggle with balance is significant, ‘chair yoga‘ may just be your next best friend. The poses in yoga are modified here so that you can do them sitting on a chair. One of my senior patients found chair yoga to be her favorite kind of exercise.
4. Water yoga:
Ooh la la! When yoga marries water aerobics…..the best of both worlds!
Can you guess what happens when my son drags me to the pool?
He drifts off into a frenzy perfecting his flips….while his mother quietly stretches into her favorite warrior pose. And stretches some more….and more….till she can stretch no more….
And then in a swift movement of that right arm she quickly pushes the water behind her, almost creating a wave…
Lol I am still with you lovely. Fret not! This my dear was a simple introduction into the warrior pose for water yoga.
As you may have noticed, standing yoga poses especially the stretches become easier in the water. It helps you increase your range of motion without your weight pushing down on your joints. But beware my dear, you may not want to do poses underwater holding your breath.
And based on the movements you add and the intensity, it also helps to strengthen the muscle groups targeted by those movements.
5. Water zumba:
If you thought zumba was a dance party, wait till you meet water zumba….
Dance party meets pool party in this beautiful merger!
Latin beats pepping you up, while offering relaxation and resistance training all in one activity….
After my son turned two we moved cities for my work. Yoga studios were a little ways away from there. And my next self-care hot spot was our neighborhood swim school.
The swim techniques they taught were so gracefully executed, almost close to dancing. It made me wonder if one could swim and dance at the same time.
A few months later we were on a vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. And I got my answer: one of the crowd favorites in the pool was actually a zumba workout in the water. Boy was it fun!
Which now lets me introduce you, my dear friend, to… water zumba.
As with all activities, please consult with your doctor for safety and precautions prior to any activity. And please remember to modify the activity to your level of comfort and safety.
By four years after I started out with these, I lost about 40 pounds of my pregnancy weight. And my blood sugar followed suit. Not needing to take medications is so liberating! Wouldn’t you say?
Hope this post helps you find your way towards fitness! If you find this helpful, please do not forget to share 🙂
I would love to know your journey with these: please post your experiences and any epiphanies in the comments below.
Here’s to a healthy you!!!
