When we talk about the effect of sports and exercise, we most often refer to the figure, muscles, fat level, tone, strength, endurance and health aspects of training. But in addition to all this, movement also affects our connective tissue – tendons, ligaments and especially joints. This article answers the question “what can we do to stay healthy”.
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Joints and exercise
The effect of training on the joints, like other tissues, is positive and strengthening, although this effect manifests itself much more slowly and after much more frequent and serious training.
Joints and connective tissues strengthen like muscles. Their extra strength is needed to withstand the increasing loads resulting from our progress in training, or in other words, from the fact that we are getting stronger. In the joints, the load and stress caused by force loads lead to wear of the joint tissue, its cartilage.
This wear over time causes discomfort and difficulty for a person, even when he is at rest and not moving. The deepening of the process can even lead to more serious diseases and inability to function normally. To avoid maximum joint wear, we need to be reasonable in the way we train.
It must always be heated first. In sports, this means that the training begins with movement and stretching, which leads to the release of joint fluid, which acts as a lubricant, reduces friction and thus, when the real load begins, the stress on the cartilage is largely parried.
Secondly, we must be prudent in our progress. Let’s not rush to increase the burdens, or the challenges in general, but to progress gradually but steadily, because in any case the injuries take us far back and the meaning of that is lost.
It is also good to have breaks from training, or at least to have periods when we are not so serious in the gym, court, stadium, etc. Nutrition also matters. Like muscles that need protein to function normally and recover after a workout, joints have nutritional needs. A healthy menu for our joint system must contain all the essential nutrients.
First of all, like all other tissues in the human body, connective tissues need protein. It is one of the main building blocks and gives flexibility and elasticity to ligaments and tendons. In addition to joint protein, we have been shown to need essential fatty acids, or omega-3 in particular.
They are a special group of polyunsaturated fats that have a beneficial effect on health and in particular the musculoskeletal system. They are found in walnuts, eggs, salmon, linseed oil, soy and some other foods. Regular intake can protect us from the development of arthritis and some other degenerative diseases.
Carbohydrates are also important for joint health. Their role is in the construction of joint fluid, which in addition to natural lubrication, plays the role of food for cartilage. They are one of the few tissues that are not supplied with blood but feed on fluid produced by the joint. Its main ingredient is called glucosamine and is a compound between protein and glucose (carbohydrate).
Sometimes reduced carbohydrate intake in some diets leads to depletion of sugars in the body and then there is pain and difficulty moving the joints due to reduced levels of gluxamine. Such diets should be applied carefully and for short periods of time. In them, it is desirable to take dietary supplements containing glucosamine.
In addition to glucosamine, there are other trace elements and some nutritional supplements that have a positive effect on connective tissues. The minerals zinc, magnesium, manganese, calcium and selenium, vitamins C and E and the amino acid methionine play an important role in building cartilage and the ligaments and ligaments. We take care of their daily intake with a varied and healthy diet. There are also specialized products containing supplements such as chondroitin (cartilage), MSM (organically bound sulfur, found only in living organisms), shark cartilage, ginger extract, and some less common substances.
It is recommended to be taken prophylactically rather than with already expressed symptoms of joint wear and weakened tendons. Health care, and in particular the health of the musculoskeletal system, must be preventive, not in the event of a problem. In order to keep the body healthy and fit for training longer, we need to take care of the weak points and strengthen them at the very beginning.
