Weight loss | Nutrition,Beauty,Herbal Recipes | Mental Health,Workout,Exercise

Many people with arthritis in their hips or knees gain weight. Pain and disability make any exercise difficult and as people do less, their weight goes up. Boredom often leads to increased food intake. Some people take extra food to try and counteract the effects of indigestion from their tablet taking. By the time people come to clinics to have their painful hips and knees sorted out, they have often put on a few stones.


Are you overweight?

Take a look at this graph; attract a range across from your size and a range up from your body weight. Put a indicate where the two collections fulfill and see which body weight group you are in.

1.  Desirable weight range       (body mass index <24)
2.  Overweight                         (body mass index 24-29) 
3.  Seriously overweight          (body mass index 29-39)

Bands 1 & 2 are acceptable for surgery. Band 3 is a problem.

Why lose weight?

Being overweight can harm your health as well as making you feel uncomfort­able. Medical problems such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pres­sure are often made much worse by being overweight. From the orthopaedic point of view, extra weight means more strain on the hip and knee joints and causes the following:

• Makes arthritis worse. 
• Makes operations difficult. 
• Increases post-operative complications. 
• Puts a strain on artificial joints. 

Dropping a lot of weight can make arthritis joint parts experience better and wait the time before they don't succeed.

If you are carrying extra weight, par­ticularly if your legs are chubby, operations on the hip and, in particu­lar the knee, will be more difficult. This is because the thick layer of tissue overlying the joint makes it more difficult for the surgeon to get down to the bone.

If the visibility of the combined is challenging then the function will not go as well and the job will not be done as nicely.

The more stretching and pulling on the tissues that becomes necessary in an obese person can make wound heal­ing slower. A knee replacement is more likely to be stiff. Complications are much more common in those who are overweight, particularly the risk of developing a thrombosis.

A thick layer of fat over a joint is more likely to lead to a wound infection.

Is being overweight a problem with a joint replacement?

Extra weight puts an enormous strain on new joints. Most people's bones are a size in proportion to their height, not their build, and this makes it difficult for the surgeon to merely put in a bigger, stronger joint replacement in someone who is heavy.

The strain on the joint replacement will be greater in the heavier patient. Weight is what determines how long a joint replacement will last. The lightweight person may have a joint that can last them 20 years or more.

In a large individual the combined may don't succeed in 5-10 years. Body weight means more use on the nasty bearings and weight causes the elements to release.

How can I lose weight?

The best way to lose weight is to combine sensible eating with a more active lifestyle. You should aim to lose 1-2lbs per week by following a diet based on current healthy eating guidelines - low in fat, free of added sugars and sugary foods, high in fibre and with overall calorie restriction.

Advice should be available from your GP who may run a weight reduction group in the surgery. If more specialist advice is needed, you could be referred to a dietician. A more expensive but very effective alternative is to join a commercial slimming group such as Weight watchers or Slimmers’ World.

The most challenging issue with arthritis joint parts is trying to take more exercise. With discomfort in the waist and legs strolling becomes challenging.

Walking, in any case, only burns up a few calories and something more vigorous than this is required if you are to lose weight. It is best to concentrate on those parts of your body that are still, hopefully, in good condition, such as the muscles around the arms and shoulders, as well as the tummy muscles.

It should be possible to go through a whole series of upper body exercises, perhaps even using weights, without having to do too much on the painful lower limbs.

If your waist or legs are the issue then try and keep them as cellular as possible by trying to force to the extreme conditions of activity, carefully but strongly through a wide variety of activity in all guidelines.

It is important to concentrate on getting the joints as flexible as possible. Unfortunately most people, when thinking of taking exercise automatically think of lower limb exercise such as walking or using an exer­cise bike. Feel free to try and do these things if it is possible, but you have to be more imaginative and try and get away from over-exercising the joints that are painful. The most effective exercise of all is to swim.

Find out if there is a local pool that has a period of time set aside for people with disabilities. Look for ‘LEAP’, a Cornwall Council website that offers free ‘aquafit’ sessions. Consider going to a hotel that has a swimming pool, particularly if this can be combined with the warmth of a jacuzzi or sauna, which is very soothing for arthritic joints. Getting into a pool and swimming twice a week or more will produce great benefits and if combined with dieting will allow you to lose weight.