November 19, 2009
Marina Makarova, head of the exercise therapy department of the Center for Restorative Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Medical and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, talks about the main types of exercise equipment and their proper use.
In any self-respecting gym there are usually so many units that it makes your eyes wide open. Everyone goes to work out with their own individual goal: to lose weight, to make their muscles more prominent, or to train endurance. And, of course, before you start “throwing iron”, it is best to contact a specialist who will help you choose the right type of exercise equipment and load level. But you usually don’t want to seem like a newbie in the gym. Therefore, even before the first trip to training, it is worth finding out what types of exercise equipment there are.
, and what they are intended for. Marina Makarova, head of the exercise therapy department of the Center for Restorative Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Medical and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, talks about the main types of exercise equipment and their proper use.
Exercise machine for the back and shoulder girdle: Lat machine
This is perhaps one of the most famous exercise machines, the most comfortable to use. It maximally works the muscles of the back and anterior part of the body.
. But, if a person has pain in the cervical or shoulder regions, it is better to approach the armor machine only after all the muscles are thoroughly warmed up. In any case, it requires trained back and shoulder muscles.
Work on mistakes
The eight biggest mistakes people make at the gym and how to avoid them.
The exercise machine is adjusted so that from a sitting position you can easily reach the bar, and the angle of the knee, hip and ankle joints is exactly 90 degrees. In this case, the back should remain completely straight - the body should not be tilted
neither forward nor backward.
The weight that you will have to pull is selected either by feeling or based on the maximum “lifting” weight.
The crossbar is lowered using the hands to a position in front of the chest or behind the back. When placing the bar behind your back, the latissimus dorsi muscles and the muscles that fix the shoulder blades
. In this case, the hand should cover the bar from behind, the so-called forward grip.
As you lower the bar of the lat machine in front of your chest, turn your palm with your fingers towards you and grab it with a “reverse grip”. This way you will load the flexor muscles of the arms, the muscles of the chest and abdomen
.
Why do my knees hurt after exercise?
Mild muscle pain is a normal and common symptom, especially in untrained people, however, if the patient experiences sharp or aching pain in the knee after exercising on the simulator, there is reason to be wary. Pain in such situations may be due to one of the following reasons:
- Excessively high load regime, not relevant to the condition of the knee. In this case, you need to exercise in moderation.
- Excessively long training sessions.
- If the patient starts exercising immediately after an injury or at too early a stage of rehabilitation.
- An inflammatory process caused by non-compliance with the technique.
In any case, before starting classes, you need to consult a doctor about the advisability of training in the current state of the joint and not to exceed the duration of classes and the intensity of the load prescribed by the doctor.
If pain makes itself felt while pedaling and there are no visible signs of inflammation (swelling, hyperemia, local increase in temperature), you need to rub your knee with your hands until the skin turns red. After this, the tissues will receive better blood supply, and the pain should go away.
Patient exercising during rehabilitation after knee surgery
Leg trainer: training the back of the thigh
In order for the body to remain stable and the knee joint to be properly fixed, the thigh muscles
.
But, as a rule, the back muscles of a person’s thighs are less well trained than the front ones. And they need to pay increased attention when working on simulators. the back of the thigh
works , and when returning them to their original position,
the quadriceps femoris muscle
located in front.
It is important to maintain correct body position
when working on this simulator. The back rests completely on the back of the chair, slightly tilted back. Securely fix your leg joints on the holders, and your hands on the handrails. In this position, you can work on the hamstring muscles in isolation without overloading other parts of the body.
The benefits and harms of pedaling for bone and cartilage tissue
The positive and negative effects obtained from the use of an exercise bike for degenerative changes in the lining of the knee joint largely depend on the training regimen and consideration of restrictions. Benefits observed with cycling include:
- Increased range of motion of the joint. Prevents the development of deformation and other defects.
- Burning calories. Leads to weight loss, which is important for those suffering from arthrosis, since additional kilograms lead to increased stress on the knees and progression of the disease.
- Strengthening the leg muscles. It also helps reduce the load on the joint.
- Increased blood circulation in the joint area and adjacent soft tissues. Leads to improved metabolism in the tissues of cartilaginous surfaces and stops their destruction.
If negative effects occur during this type of training, this may be due to a load regimen that is inadequate to the current state of the joints. The following phenomena may occur:
- Erosion of cartilage due to excessively high loads in late stages of the disease or too early in postoperative rehabilitation.
- Inflammation of the joint due to tissue irritation due to improper movement technique during training.
Exercise bike for early stages of arthrosis of the knee joint
Deltoid muscle trainer
Your seating position is important for proper operation of this machine.
: The lower back must be pressed against the back of the seat.
only the deltoid muscles
should work .
If full extension of your arms in the shoulder joints is painful, move them as far as comfortable and hold them in this position for five to ten seconds.
By the way, when working on a simulator for deltoid muscles, you can find out how synchronously both arms work. If they rise to different heights and with different forces, it's not just the difference
muscle fitness. There may be problems with the shoulder joints.
Why is pedaling best?
For a number of reasons, working with an exercise bike, especially one that is properly chosen taking into account the limitations of the patient’s condition, is much preferable to riding a regular bicycle. This is due to the following factors:
- Modern exercise machines have the flexibility to adjust resistance and other settings, which is crucial for those suffering from arthrosis, since pressing the pedals with force can lead to microtrauma and worsening the condition.
- A stationary simulator is much less fraught with tissue damage than driving over rough terrain or uneven roads.
Proper selection of the device and dosed exercises in accordance with the requirements of the current state of health contribute to rapid rehabilitation for pathologies of the joints of the lower extremities.
Osteoarthritis of the knee joints is a disease that takes many people by surprise. Do your knees hurt? This phenomenon is observed in almost half of mature and older people.
- The benefits and harms of an exercise bike for arthrosis of the knee joint, indications for exercise and contraindications
But a person, feeling alarming symptoms, cannot yet imagine that he is developing arthrosis of the knee joints. When he finds out about this, he is in a state of shock for some time. You have to come to terms with the fact.
But the fact that the disease is incurable is not worth it. And to help enterprising optimists, effective simulators have been created that can help at different stages of the disease.
Abdominal training machine
It is advisable to build an abdominal workout based on the breathing rate
. When bending, exhale, and when bending, inhale. This mode is especially convenient for those who are just starting their training.
To avoid lower back pain the next day, bend only as far as is comfortable
for the back muscles: when working on this simulator they are stretched under tension.
At the same time, be sure to ensure that the support with your feet is correct: on the entire foot, with your legs parallel to each other.
Recommendations
Doctors recommend choosing exercise equipment that:
- How does an exercise bike help with knee arthrosis?
- They do not take up much space in the apartment.
- Suitable for age and weight parameters.
- They are of high quality (the product may be expensive, but it is durable).
- They are purchased for their intended purpose and are constantly used, rather than collecting dust in the corner.
- Used in combination with other treatment methods.
People who buy exercise equipment, for the most part, at first are not overjoyed with their purchases, and then, passing by, they begin to quietly hate them, because in connection with them an association arises: training is pain. We must understand that at first this is inevitable. "Patience and a little effort".
After a few months of exercise, the patient will be surprised to find that the pain in the knee has disappeared, the extra pounds have disappeared, and the legs have acquired a beautiful relief.
If you want to get more information and similar exercises for the spine and joints from Alexandra Bonina, check out the materials on the links below.
Additional useful information:
See more useful materials on my social networks:
| | | | |
Exercise bike for knee pain
With all due respect to those people who try to avoid visiting doctors and at the same time strive to lead an emphatically healthy lifestyle, incorporating an exercise bike into it for knee pain, we would like to note that the level of culture in using sports equipment is not yet very high.
And this level is typical for the majority of residents of our country. According to statistics, only 3-4% of those who visit gyms or buy an exercise bike want to strengthen their knees, precisely for this purpose! - even consult with an ordinary (and not just a sports) doctor. But only he, having before his eyes the results of the examination (X-rays, tests), can make a conclusion - is an exercise bike useful for knee pain in your particular case or, on the contrary, is it contraindicated?
Yes, and yes again: the exercise bike strengthens the knees by improving blood flow and ensuring the best blood supply to the knee joint. The nature of the movements that you make on the simulator, their smoothness and gradualness, helps the cartilage tissue maintain its integrity.
Important! Have you ever fallen to your knees? For example, stumbling, with a characteristic shift of body weight forward? The pain in my knees did not go away for a long time. A very long time! And now that they have passed, the exercise bike will strengthen the knee joints, provide good nutrition to the joint tissue, increase joint mobility, minimize the risk of injury, and relieve stress, eliminating unnecessary tension. Helps you walk easier and faster. An exercise bike is also indispensable for the spine.
But - attention! - let's be honest: this is an abstract exercise bike for an abstract person. And when buying a sports unit, you have to examine a very specific mechanism (an exercise bike for joints in different configurations can be beneficial or harmful) and, most importantly, a very specific person with a “bouquet” of ailments and simply physiological characteristics peculiar to him.
Let's take a simple example: does an exercise bike have a beneficial effect on the knees, if we are talking about a person who is overweight and kills his knees even if he does not carry out any special effects on the joints, but simply stands - 40-50 minutes in the Moscow metro every day?
In this case, the source of pain is excess weight. And minimizing this excess weight with the help of cardio training (not necessarily an exercise bike, but why not?) is possible and necessary. During progressively increasing physical activity, the load on the joints will be minimized. The heart and blood vessels will also be unloaded, and the risk of heart attack and stroke will decrease. And the pain in my knees will also go away.
What if you already have a diagnosis?