Why getting outdoors will help your knees

Stay with me on this one as I know you are probably thinking “how could more movement outdoors help this throbbing knee pain I am having?”

I will first start off by saying I am not a doctor, I know shocking to most of you, but I am not therefore here is the disclaimer that always check with your medical provider before doing something strenuous. What I can tell you though is that I am a knee pain sufferer as well.

Yes I can tell you it will rain even before the weather man can, I am one of those people. I have had bad knees my entire life, ever since middle school. Then on top of that I was in a bad accident at 16 that left my right side of my body, including my knee, in disarray. Now I could choose to sit around and say I have bad knees so therefore I have an excuse not to get daily movement in, especially outdoors or I can choose to live my life.

So many people today choose to let the excuse of pain hold them back. They will tell me that “I don’t understand there pain..” Well let me say this, I am 37 years old and I cannot sit cross legged for more than five minutes and if I do it takes me longer than a minute to get up. Getting up and down stairs somedays can be a challenge, mind you I am only 37.

I get frustrated and sometimes feel defeated that my body is acting like this and then I make it move some more. Sure I take precautions and don’t do anything too crazy but more times than not I take the right actions to strengthen my knees. This includes getting outside and getting active. I do some challenging things like hiking to strengthen my knees as well as work on my mobility and flexibility with certain exercises.

By doing this outdoors I really feel like it helps in multiple ways. It challenges me to do new things, it allows me to breath in fresh air and it gets my body flowing correctly again.

If you are scared to try a new movement just try walking to the mailbox and back today then every week stretch it a little farther.

Start today!