Do your joints seem to ache and hurt more when the weather changes? Is that an old wive’s tale, or is there some legitimacy to this fact? For those of you who know, I live in San Diego and we had so much welcomed rain this past winter. But every time it rained, my one knee would always be a bit achy (from an old sports injury) before the rain actually came down. But this year was different. I had no achiness! … even with all the rain.
That got me thinking .. why? I have done 2 things differently in my “exercise” life this past year and I think it brought relief to my achy knee.
First Thing! I have been doing this Chair Pose (either version below works!) twice a day for 2 minutes. This pose strengthens the quadriceps (front thigh muscles) which are the muscles that help lift your kneecaps… making space in your knee joint. Take it slow and easy and work up to 2 minutes to build strength. 
Second Thing! I have been walking around barefoot in my home. I used to wear slippers in the morning and at night because my feet get cold. But I “slipped” one time and realized that I needed to feel my toes on the ground because that seemed to improve my balance and stability. What I didn’t realize until this week is that going barefoot has shown to improve arthritic pain by 12% in a study done by the Rush University Medical Center of 75 people with osteoarthritis (A student gave me the Reader’s Digest article on this!). It makes sense because 25% of the bones in our body are in our feet and we need strong feet to help us balance and keep steady. Strong feet offload some of the work on our knees and hips.
An Interesting Tidbit from WebMD….
Many people say that their pain worsens with damp, rainy weather, research has shown that it’s not the cold, wind, rain, or snow, David Borenstein, MD, FACP, FACR, a rheumatologist says. “The thing that affects people most is barometric pressure.” Barometric pressure is the weight of the atmosphere that surrounds us. If you imagine the tissues surrounding the joints to be like a balloon, high barometric pressure that pushes against the body from the outside will keep tissues from expanding. But barometric pressure often drops before bad weather sets in. This lower air pressure pushes less against the body, allowing tissues to expand — and those expanded tissues can put pressure on the joint. Read more….
Keeping our Knees Strong and Healthy!
Sherry
