How Obesity Increases the Risk Of Developing Osteoarthritis?

By Nick Mutt


When a person is obese or overweight, they have a high risk of several health problems. Obesity and arthritis can be seen as being related. Obesity is a potential risk factor for the onset and deterioration of musculoskeletal conditions of the knee, hip, ankle, foot and shoulder.

When a person is obese they are at an increased risk for developing osteoarthritis. This form of arthritis is most commonly found in the hands, neck, feet and knees. Osteoarthritis affects these joints when there is a breakdown of cartilage in the joints resulting in the joints rubbing against each other and causing excessive damage.

Connection between Obesity and Arthritis

Obesity and arthritis may be connected as increased weight does have an impact on the joints. This weight distribution can be seen as a problem especially on the knees. If a person is obese, it puts a lot of pressure on the knees and feet. In majority of the cases, increased body weight contributes to the increased load transmitted across the weight bearing knees by a factor of three to seven times the body weight and leads to accelerated damage of the cartilage. The load transmitted to the knees varies with increased body weight.

Lose weight or arthritis may just cripple you. If a woman on the heavier side presents herself, her chances of arthritis stands 7 out of 10. Also a consensus of doctors puts the incidence of women being more prone than men at 7 out of 10.

And being a progressively degenerative disorder, arthritis is not fatal but crippling for life. There are two types of arthritis and people often get confused between the two. Rheumatoid arthritis which, according to doctors, is affecting younger women of late, is stated as ‘auto immune disease’ wherein the body’s own antibodies starts fighting against connecting tissues, especially joints. It is so incapacitating that it just cripples a woman overnight and she doesn’t know what to do with herself. For young women of child bearing age, it becomes a crisis.

Physiotherapists feel that are ways of overcoming the pain and subsequent deformities, though to a small extent. Certain orthetic devices have been designed to make the affected person carry out his work independently. There are also some muscles strengthening ways to mobilize joint manually and through electric adjuncts.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to provide health advice and is for general information only. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.

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The Secret of How Massage Therapy Benefits your Overall Health

By: William Hall

Description : Getting a professional massage just might very well be one of the best ways to relax the mind, body and spirit. These days, professional massage therapists are in high demand, and although the occasional massage from one of these highly trained practitioners may cost what the average person considers a good bit of money, it seems well worth it to many. Not only does it make you feel wonderful from head to toe, it also has many health benefits that many people (and you?) are probably unaware of.

The best way to describe what a massage can do for a person’s overall health is explaining how a therapist can manipulate the body’s soft tissues, which means the massage therapist has complete control of a person’s musculature. The most common areas of the body that a therapist focuses on are the back, neck, arms, legs and, at times, even the jaw and head. Massages can help to alleviate the most common types of stress that occurs in the body’s muscles, wherever they are located. Still, simply describing massage methods doesn’t quite answer the question of what massage therapy can do to benefit a person’s overall health.

Reduce stress, live longer

One key benefit to massages is that they help lower high blood pressure. This is important information for someone who might suffer from high blood pressure and the various secondary conditions it causes or contributes to. Massage therapy helps lower a person’s heart rate, which, of course, is directly linked to blood pressure. Since high blood pressure can lead to serious health conditions, like heart attack and strokes, the occasional massage might be a good thing to try as a preventative against such conditions.

Interestingly, massage therapy has been shown to help certain people with certain, specific kinds of mental health conditions. Many psychiatrists will recommend that their patients receive a massage regularly to help alleviate depression symptoms, anxiety and other mental health conditions. The mechanism by which it works is hardly mysterious, but it is amazing for its simple effectiveness and ability to affect all major systems of the human body. Massage clearly relaxes the body, as well as the mind, at the same time, which can stimulate the brain’s production of both endorphins (natural pain killers) and mood-enhancing serotonin.

Set and setting, game and match

The human mind being the powerful creative force that it is, many massage therapists set the mood with candles, music and sometimes by burning incense. In addition to bringing a more soothing atmosphere to the massage, there are some indications that aromatherapy has some testable effects on stress, too. Enhancing the mood, therefore, may be a more powerful technique than even massage professionals now realize.

Massage therapy can bring a wide variety of beneficial elements to a person’s life. Many professional and amateur athletes have been known to use massage therapy, quite often before they play in a game, take to the track or strap on the skis. The massages that pro athletes receive help to relax them before they play, at which time they will exert themselves far beyond the normal demands of life, with more force and potential pain than most people will ever experience. The massage therapist is ready to help relieve their pain after the game is over, too.

Good for one and all

Yet it is not just the athlete who can benefit. Massages can greatly reduce the pain and inflammation associated with such diverse conditions as osteoporosis, asthma, arthritis, diabetes and other inflammatory diseases. Massage therapy is also part of the toolkit for many physical therapists, who understand how important good blood flow is to healing muscles, organs, bones and, ultimately, every cell in the body. The oxygen that the blood takes to the cells is what keeps the various cogs and gears of the human engine running. Massage therapy can help deliver the fuel and sustenance that the body needs by facilitating blood flow and oxygenation.

Clearly there are many beneficial aspects to massage therapy that help to open wide the window of opportunity for people suffering from all different types of ailments. This article mentions only several of the rewards associated with massage therapy, but the benefits all share some things in common as do the methods. All the methods are natural, drug-free, noninvasive, chemical-free (except for simple lotion or oil) and based on the sciences of physiology and anatomy. All benefits are real, not based on mood-altering drugs and can be obtained exactly the same way time after time – you build no resistance as you do to a drug, and you have no side effects except a feeling of wellbeing, and that is one you will never complain about.

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