When I was young, my mom always reprimanded me when I knelled or squatted for a long time . I’m not sure whether you have had such experience. When asking for the reason why, she would say ” kneeling and squatting are not good for girls, you’ll know it when you are old later”. I was confused, thought these positions are not appropriate in a social cultural context. Eventually, now I understood her advices after referring to few medical opinion and reading.
‘Over-worked’ knees
We can squat or kneel for hours unnoticed in daily life chores particularly:
1. Doing house-hold chores
(Pic: www.rd.com)
2. Gardening
Some of us damaged our knees through:
1. Sports
2. Improper sitting positions
(Pic: www.polyvore.com; www.images.com)
When you feel your knees are painful/discomfort they are likely due to the inflammation cause by the ‘tearing’ effect of the cartilage. This means that your knees are over strained/over-stretched. If ignored for some time, it may resulting to the degeneration of the cartilages and it may develop Osteoarthritis. Thus, avoid strenuous exercises or positions for your knees starting from now.
Tip of Prevention
Here are some tips on how to take good care of your knees, it is practical for me but you may also refer to reliable medical sources for more info.
1. Sit properly. Besides preventing yourself from over bending/stretching the knees you also preventing unwanted backaches due to bad sitting positions.
(Pic: www.utahhipandknee.com)
2. Use a stool. Sit on a stool if you need to do something low like gardening, bathing your pet, pounding your cooking ingredients etc.
3. Use knee supports. Use it to avoid further straining for your knees.
4. Knee strengthening exercises to relieve knee pain or build up strength on the knees.
5. Watch out your weight. Over weight means your knees need to work harder to carry you.
(Pic: www.examiner.com)
Love your knees and your knees will love you.
