We’ve all heard our parents say “Don’t crack your knuckles, it’s bad for you”, but is it? The ‘popping’ sound is called crepitus and it happens when air bubbles are released from the joint spaces. It is extremely common for our joints to crack, especially as we grow older, so typically it’s not something to worry about.
As we age, our joints tend to make more noise because our cartilage wears down making the surface rougher when these rub against each other. The way you sleep, walk, move, and do daily activities has an effect on how often your joints crack but everyone will experience this at some point in their life.
The myth that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis is completely erroneous. There is no scientific study that proves that there is a relationship between these two. However, according to the US Anatomy and Physiology Instructors’ Cooperative, which examined 300 knuckle crackers, while no direct connection was made between joint cracking and arthritis, those who habitually did cracked their knuckles, showed soft tissue damage and loss of grip strength.
There are cases where this sound can indicate more, but only if accompanied by swelling and pain. As long as it’s not painful, joint noise is okay. If the cracking comes with swelling or pain, then it’s the time to see a chiropractor or a doctor.
In some cases, people like to crack their back and neck but there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. If you crack these too forcefully or too often, it can be very harmful to your health because you can pinch the nerves in these areas making it an extremely painful experience. In some cases, the pain can make it impossible for you to move.
In order to prevent any long-term damage, it’s advisable to visit a local chiropractor to help stabilise the joint which will stop you feeling the need to do the cracking yourself.
While most people will monitor their calorie, sugar and salt intake, it is essential to be monitoring your protein intake to ensure you are providing your body with the essential elements it needs to maintain and fuel. It is known that protein should be involved in your daily health maintenance plan, it is especially important for growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women. Here is some more information about the importance of protein and how it can be easily incorporated into your diet.
Build: With our hair and nails mostly comprised of protein, it is a key building block of bones, cartilage, and skin.
Repair: Every cell in the human body contains protein. The basic structure of protein is a chain of amino acids, meaning the human body needs protein in your diet to help the body repair cells and make new ones.
Digest: About half the dietary protein that you consume each day goes into making enzymes, which aid in digesting food and making new cells and body chemicals.
Regulate: Protein plays an important role in hormone regulation, especially during the transformation and development of cells during puberty.
Protein can be easily incorporated into your diet by being aware of it’s nutritional values. Different foods contain different amounts of essential amino acids; Animal products (such as chicken, beef or fish and dairy products) have all of the essential amino acids and are known as ‘complete’ protein.
Soy products, quinoa and the seed of a leafy green called amaranth (consumed in Asia and the Mediterranean) also have all of the essential amino acids. Plant proteins (beans, lentils, nuts and whole grains) usually lack at least one of the essential amino acids and are considered ‘incomplete’ proteins.
Best food sources of protein are:
lean meats: beef, lamb, veal, pork, kangaroo
poultry: chicken, turkey, duck, emu, goose, bush birds
fish and seafood – fish, prawns, crab, lobster, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams
nuts (including nut pastes) and seeds – almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds
legumes and beans: all beans, lentils, chickpeas, split peas, tofu.
Some grain and cereal-based products are also sources of protein but are generally not as high in protein as meat and meat-alternative products.
There are plenty of simple food recipes including some of these ingredients that will help you hit your daily protein goal. Nuts and seeds are fantastic in salads, with vegetables and served on top of curries. Try toasting some pine nuts or flaked almonds and putting them in your green salad Greek yoghurt is a protein-rich food that you can use throughout the day. Add some to your favourite breakfast cereal, put a spoonful on top of a bowl of pumpkin soup or serve it as a dessert with some fresh fruit.
If you suffer from arthritis, or very stiff joints, exercise may be the last things you want do.
However… getting out into the fresh air and doing some low intensity, aerobic exercise can be extremely beneficial and help to prevent stiff joints.
Some sports can help to build up your core muscles, and the muscles which support your joints, and also reduce joint inflammation. These include:
Yoga
Pilates
Swimming
Cycling
Walking
Opt for gentle movements and light stretches and build up slowly, the gentle stretching involved in each exercise can help you to maintain mobility and movement.
Be careful… try and avoid any hot or power yoga as this can end up putting excessive pressure on your joints.
Try this… Swimming can be particularly good as the buoyancy of the water can help relieve any pressure on your joints while you exercise, giving you that extra supportive barrier which will help cushion any inflamed joints.
Or this…. Cycling also acts in a similarly supportive manner as is helps you avoid the pounding of high-impact aerobic activities. A gentle cycle can help to strengthen your leg muscles that support your joints. So whether it’s on an exercise bike or in the great outdoors, cycling can be an effective way of staying fit while making sure your joints aren’t placed under too much pressure.
If you are experiencing a severe flare up it is best to rest for a couple of days before part taking in any kind of physical activity. Remember, it’s not a race. Don’t push your body to do anything if you feel you can’t manage it.
If you feel like it, you could simply go for a walk, but make sure not to push yourself too much if you are in pain. The best thing you can do is to listen to your body.
Remember… pain is your body’s way of telling you to stop, so always go at your own pace.
Looking after your bones is important because they play several roles in the body. As well as providing structure, they also protect organs, anchor muscles and store calcium. Though we hear a lot about the importance of building strong and healthy bones during childhood and adolescence, bone health can be protected throughout adulthood.
Why is it important to look after your bone health during adulthood?
Our bodies continuously make new bone and break down old bone. When we’re young, the body makes new bone faster than it breaks down the old bone leading to increased bone mass. With age, we begin to lose more bone mass than we gain.
There are several condition and diseases that can affect our bones, including osteoporosis. This is a common condition where bones become weak and brittle, which affects over 3 million people in the UK. Looking after our bones can be an important part of preventing such conditions.
What can affect bone health?
There are several factors that can affect bone health, some of which are related to lifestyle.
An example of this is physical activity. Exercise is important for maintaining bone strength and being less physically active can place you at a higher risk of developing conditions like osteoporosis.
Another example is diet. Calcium is important for maintaining bone health and not getting enough calcium can contribute towards diminishing bone density.
It has also been suggested that smoking and tobacco are associated with an increased risk of weak bones.
However, some factors that affect bone health are not related to lifestyle.
For example, women can face dramatic bone loss during menopause due to oestrogen levels dropping.
Keeping your bones healthy
There are some simple steps that can be taken to prevent or slow bone loss.
Incorporate calcium into your diet
There are plenty of ways to ensure you are getting enough calcium. Many foods are rich in calcium, including dairy products, almonds, edamame, and leafy greens. However, if it is hard to incorporate calcium through your diet, there are supplements that could help.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is important for health bones because it helps the body absorb calcium. It can sometimes be difficult to get enough vitamin D through diet, even though there is vitamin D in oily fish, egg yolks, and red meat. Like calcium, it is possible to take supplements to ensure you are getting enough. Sunlight can also trigger the production of vitamin D.
Physical activity
Staying active is important for looking after your bones, but weight-bearing exercises are particularly good. This can include walking and jogging, but also resistance can boost bone strength.
Avoid substance abuse
Because lifestyle is an important factor for looking after your bones, it is advised that you avoid smoking. Similarly, be mindful of your alcohol intake.
Spine health is all about mindfulness and constant care. Maintaining a healthy spine, will make everything you do in life a bit easier. Here are some tips on how to keep your spine healthy.
If you can, stretch every single day. Always warm up for 3-5 minutes before you stretch fully. Remember, never stretch cold muscles. Usually after a run or workout you are able to stretch more intensely.
Over time, our muscles and tendons become used to the motions we most regularly perform, tightening up if they are not continually stretched out. The more flexible they remain, the less chance you’ll suffer from a pulled muscle.
Along with staying limber and flexible, you’ll need to make sure your back muscles are strong enough to help you maintain proper form for the entirety of your workouts. Even a few moments of slouching can lead to a pulled back or slipped disc which is not good for spine health.
Try a few weight-lifting and core strengthening exercises at least a few times a week.
Working the body is great but make sure that rest days are taken seriously. Whether you’re practising for marathons or just getting your thirty minutes of activity in, many people forget just how important rest days are.
By not working out on certain days, the body is able to repair damage while simultaneously making your muscles stronger. Too much exercise means this healing doesn’t happen. Make sure you have at least one day a week set aside for rest and repair.
Good spinal health is directly related to a good diet and staying hydrated. Providing your body with necessary nutrients, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and nuts are required. With these, the body can better heal areas that are injured or are showing signs of injury.
Be sure to practice these tips for a healthy spine.
Chronic stress can have a negative effect on our physical health as well as our mental wellbeing. It can play a role in our susceptibility to illness and disease, but also in day-to-day functional problems such as pain and stiffness.
There are many steps we can take to improve our ability to cope with stress; nutrition is one of them. Find out what and how to eat to better manage stress…
Balancing your blood sugar
To cope well with stress, we need our food to provide us with balanced, sustained energy. Foods that quickly break down into glucose and are quickly absorbed – such as sugary foods and fast-releasing carbohydrates – may give us a burst of energy, but can cause our blood sugar to peak and then dip. This can actually increase our body’s stress response and stress hormone levels, as well as making us feel irritated and out of control.
Here are the three fundamental steps to balancing your blood sugar:
Eat primarily whole foods: vegetables, animal foods (eggs, fish, unprocessed meat, unsweetened dairy foods), nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, and some fruit. Avoid sugary snacks, refined carbohydrates and other processed foods such as breakfast cereals
Making sure every meal includes a good serving of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. The primary protein foods are the animal foods mentioned above, and nuts and seeds, and beans and lentils. Healthy fats are found in nuts and seeds, oily fish, avocadoes, and coconut. Complex carbs are found in vegetables, whole fruit (i.e. not fruit juices), whole grains, beans and lentils
Eat regularly. Skipping meals or leaving too long between meals can cause your blood sugar level to drop too low, which can also trigger a stress response
Getting enough food
As well as eating regularly, getting enough food is important when you’re dealing with stress. Going on a weight loss diet – whether it’s low-calorie, low-carb or low-fat – during a stressful time can be particularly bad for your stress levels. Instead, now is the time to focus on balancing your blood sugar as outlined above, by eating regular meals, getting enough protein, healthy fats and non-starchy vegetables and cutting the refined carbohydrates and junk foods. You should find it easier to manage your weight – or lose weight – by eating in this way anyway.
Healthy snacking
Although regular snacking is not the best thing for everyone, it can be helpful if you’re coping with stress, again by helping to keep your blood sugar on an even keel. Your snacks need to be based on whole foods, and contain some protein and complex carbohydrates.
Examples include:
Two or three oatcakes with one of the following: a tablespoon of hummus, guacamole, cottage cheese, half an avocado, a hard-boiled egg or a teaspoon or two of nut butter (e.g. almond butter).
A pot of natural yoghurt (without added sugar) with some berries and/or a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds mixed in.
A wedge of left-over home-made frittata/omelette.
However, you shouldn’t need to be snacking more than once between meals; constantly ‘grazing’ can have a negative effect on your weight and your digestion!
Magnesium-rich foods
The mineral magnesium plays a vital role in our psychological health, including our mood and how well we cope with stress. It’s thought that both physical and emotional stress can increase the body’s need for magnesium; and that having a low magnesium to calcium ratio can actually increase the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline.*
The best food sources of magnesium are green leafy vegetables such as kale, chard and spinach; seeds and nuts; and whole grains – especially buckwheat and rye.
B vitamin-rich foods
Like magnesium, B vitamins also play a vital role in our energy as well as our psychological function.
The various B vitamins are found in different foods, but the best all-round sources include eggs, oily fish, organ meats (especially liver), seeds and nuts, and beans and pulses. Luckily these are also foods that are great for our blood sugar balance!
Avoid overdoing stimulants
Many of us turn to stimulants such as tea and coffee when we’re feeling stressed. But stimulants of any kind also trigger the body’s stress response. Try to keep your coffee consumption in particular to a minimum. Tea can have a gentler stimulating effect so can be better tolerated, but keeping it to one cup a day can still be advisable. Try to introduce calming herbal teas such as chamomile and spearmint – especially later in the day.
Note that alcohol can also act as a stimulant as well as a relaxant. It also disrupts your blood sugar balance. Keep alcohol to a rare treat and stick to one drink only.
In the UK, back pain is one of the most common reasons people miss work, and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. With something so common, it has easy for people to get confused about back pain and misconceptions to arise.
We know that the easiest way to tackle back pain is to keep moving, but sometimes these myths and misconceptions can stop people from doing exercise or seeking proper treatment.
One of the most common myths about back pain is that people think it’s not going to happen to them. In fact 4 out of 5 of us will be affected by back pain at some point in our lives!
Here are the top myths about back pain debunked:
MYTH: Exercise will cause or worsen back pain
Staying bed bound with back pain can be one of the worst things you can do! Without exercise muscles become weakened, deconditioned and stiff. To reduce back pain you should rest, calm the pain, followed by gentle exercise.
MYTH: If you see a spine specialist you will end up getting surgery
Spinal surgery is only recommended in about 1% of cases. In most cases the treatments recommended will be non-surgical, such as exercise, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication.
MYTH: Back pain is a normal part of aging
Some people believe that back pain is a typical part of getting older but it shouldn’t be a normal part of your day. We all get aches and pains as we age, however with all the options to ease back pain available today you shouldn’t suffer in silence.
It is estimated that there are approximately 200,000 D.I.Y accidents each year in the UK.
Although being active around the home can help your overall fitness levels it is always important to ensure you are not over stretching and possibly causing yourself injury.
DIY accidents in the home can cause accidents that can often be easily avoided.
How to prepare when doing DIY:
Make sure you are wearing comfortable loose fitting clothes that won’t restrict your movement
Do some basic stretches before you start to loosen up your muscles to ensure that you don’t sprain yourself while working
Set yourself an achievable goal
Make sure you take plenty of breaks to relax, stretch and keep hydrated. Vary your activity and try to spend no more than 20-30 minutes on any one thing.
Make sure you’re not twisting yourself:
This can place excess pressure on your spine and back muscles which could lead to an injury
If you’re painting a wall, keep moving the ladder rather than stretching across
Always make sure you’re directly facing the area in question – If you are painting the ceiling use a paint pad or roller with an extended handle and hold it at chest height
Lifting
D.I.Y and home improvements often require a lot of heavy lifting and bending
Work out how much you can manage and don’t go beyond your limit
If you are lifting or carrying a heavy load, make sure your legs are hip width apart and your knees are bent.
Ensure that both your head and shoulders are directly above your waist and keep whatever you’re carrying as close to you as possible
Ensure that both your head and shoulders are directly above your waist and keep whatever you’re carrying as close to you as possible
Don’t lift with your arms straight out, keep your elbows bent and to your side to minimise the stress on your lower back
Avoid bending from the wait as this could cause the risk of painful strains and injuries to the lower back, instead crouch down and bend from the knees
