Do you do low-impact exercises? You know, walking, swimming, tai chi, yoga, pilates, or water aerobics. If so, you may think that these products are better for your health and that they protect your joints. However, the human body is designed to withstand impacts, and according to scientific evidence, we need a certain level of impact in our physical activity.
“Impact exercises literally regenerate connective tissues such as tendons and cartilage,” explains physiotherapist Luis Palomeque del Cerro, from the Ofistema clinic. “But if you have osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and you haven’t moved in your life, and you start jumping to improve your bone mass, you’re going to destroy yourself.”
Low impact or high impact
Joints are simply the places where our bodies bend: elbows, knees, shoulders, hips, etc. Like the axles and hinges of machines, they need to be cushioned and well-lubricated. Where two bones meet, we have cartilage that acts as a shock absorber, and the entire joint is wrapped in a capsule that contains synovial fluid, the lubricant of our joints.
Like all mechanical parts, joints are subject to wear and tear and can break. But unlike the parts of a car or a bottling machine, our parts regenerate themselves. Bones and tendons are welded together, synovial fluid is constantly produced, and even cartilage, although with difficulty because it contains virtually no blood vessels, can regenerate to some extent.
Impact exercises literally regenerate connective tissues such as tendons and cartilage.
Luis Palomeque del Cerro
— physiotherapist
The most common causes include repetitive overload that wears down cartilage, trauma that damages ligaments or tendons, and a lack of fitness that can lead to a lack of joint stability, increasing susceptibility to sprains, tears, or dislocations. Additionally, factors such as age, excess weight, and certain diseases, such as arthritis, can weaken joints and predispose them to injury.
Joints can be injured by trauma such as a blow or sprain, or by gradual wear and tear with use or age. However, muscle weakness is a major factor. The muscles around a joint provide support and stability, absorbing much of the force exerted when walking, running, or playing sports.
If the muscles are weak, the ones that have to bear these forces are the ligaments, tendons, cartilage and, in the worst case, the bones. Various experiments have proven that if the muscles weaken, so do the joints. That is why it is so important for older people to do strength exercises and preserve their muscle mass, otherwise they risk falling and fractures.
High-intensity, high-impact exercise strengthens bones and muscles, and joints regenerate and strengthen. Chondrocytes are the cells responsible for maintaining cartilage and are activated by mechanical forces on the joint. Impacts multiply these forces. For example, when we run, our knees must withstand a force equivalent to seven times our body weight. It is these forces that, as long as injuries are avoided, make us stronger.
This has been proven in postmenopausal women at risk of osteoporosis. A review of different studies found that high-impact exercises such as jumping and weight-bearing aerobic exercises, which put high forces on the joints, helped maintain bone density, particularly in the lumbar spine and femur, two of the most common fractures in people with osteoporosis.
High impact exercises in a weak or untrained person can easily cause joint injuries because the muscles and tendons are not prepared to withstand these loads.
At the same time, high-impact exercises in a weak or untrained person can easily cause joint injuries, because the muscles and tendons are not prepared to withstand these loads. It’s a vicious circle: weakness prevents you from doing high-impact exercises safely, but high-impact exercises are necessary to strengthen your joints. Do? The key is in a buzzword: heart.
First the force, then the impact
The great thing about exercise is that any exercise, no matter how small, has huge health benefits compared to not moving. For example, the lactate threshold is what we call the point where our capacity to exert ourselves is at its maximum, and getting close to this point has many benefits for athletes. However, experiments have shown that training at 50% of this intensity, such as walking briskly three to five times a week, is enough to improve lung capacity, cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health, without changing diet or any other intervention.
That said, exercising at a higher intensity multiplies these benefits. Intensity can be achieved in two ways. One would be a high-impact aerobic exercise, such as running or a Zumba class. The other way to increase intensity with low impact is to do strength exercises, such as lifting weights, with really challenging loads.
High-intensity interval training, in which cycles of maximum effort are alternated for a few seconds, with active rest in between, has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular events, obesity and cancer. A simple example of this training is (after a warm-up) running four sprint 30 seconds, with one minute of recovery between each.
Another very high intensity, high impact exercise is the famous burpees, a combination of squats, planks, push-ups and jumping jacks that was invented as a fitness test for soldiers and can leave anyone out of breath within minutes.
The problem is that people who are overweight and have low muscle mass are at risk of injury from intense, high-impact exercises like running or jumping. The solution is to strengthen your muscles first with low-impact strength exercises.
“We need a good “heart”explains Dr. Palomeque, referring to the abdominal girdle, a set of muscles in the central part of the body, which includes the abdominals, obliques, lumbar muscles of the back and pelvic floor muscles, and which are essential for the stability and balance of the body, and being able to transmit forces safely when we are in motion. In older people, a heart Fort prevents falls and fractures.
But it’s not just the size. “There are other cores in addition to the abdominopelvic,” explains Palomeque. “We are already talking about heart pedal in the feet and the heart scapular in the shoulders and neck. It is essential to have all three strong to redistribute the loads.”
Safe High Impact Exercises
How to get it? Exercises that strengthen the heart They include planks, classic sit-ups, and leg lifts. Russian twists are very effective and involve sitting on the floor, lifting your legs, and rotating your torso, touching both sides of your body with your hands. Bird dog, common in yoga classes, and side planks are also great.
For our feet, walking barefoot on uneven surfaces, standing on one leg and maintaining balance, and standing on tiptoes will give us more strength. For the shoulders and back, lateral raises with weights and rotations with elastic bands will help us.
By putting ourselves in the hands of a professional and following these and other exercises adapted to our fitness level, we will be ready to perform strength exercises, which will allow us to increase the impact without risk to our joints.
High-impact exercises include activities such as running, jumping rope, burpees, explosive jumps such as box jumps, and contact sports such as football or basketball.
High-impact exercises include activities such as running, jumping rope, burpees, explosive jumps, such as box jumps, but also contact sports such as football or basketball. All these exercises require fast and energetic movements, where both feet can leave the ground simultaneously, which generates a greater impact on the joints but also burns more calories, improves bone density and increases cardiovascular capacity.
This was verified in a study of obese women, comparing the results of high-impact aerobic exercises (think a Zumba class) and low-impact exercises, but combined with weights. Both improved, but high-impact training was more effective in reducing body weight and losing fat, while low-impact strength training increased strength, muscle mass and aerobic capacity. If we want to do both, we need to learn how to jump safely.
Darío Pescador is editor and director of the Quo Magazine and author of the book the best of yourself Published by Oberon.
