As folks age, they start to protest more of pain in their muscles and joints. They seem to stiffen up with age, and such unexceptional activities as bending over for the daily newspaper can make them wince.
Such pain can grip so aggressively that they are sure it begins deep in their bones. But the actual cause of rigidity and tenderness lies not in the joints or bones, says research at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, but in the muscles and connective tissues that move the joints.
The frictional resistance generated by the 2 rubbing surfaces of bones in the joints is unimportant, even in joints ruined by arthritis.
Flexibility is the medical term used to describe the range of a joint’s motion from full movement in one particular direction to full movement in the other. The greater the range of movement, the more flexible the joint.
If you bend forward at the hips and touch your toes with your fingertips, you have good pliability, or range of motion of the hip joints. But can you bend over simply with a minimal expenditure of energy and force? The effort required to flex a joint is equally as important as its range of possible motion.
Different factors limit the flexibleness and ease of movement in different joints and muscles. In the elbow and knee, the bony structure itself sets a definite limit. In other joints, such as the ankle, hip, and back, the soft tissue, muscle and connective tissue limit the motion range.
The problem of inflexible joints and muscles is very similar to the difficulty of opening and closing a gate because of a seldom used and rusty hinge which has become balky.
Therefore, if people don’t continually move their muscles and joints through their full ranges of motion, they lose some of their potential. That is the reason why when these people will try to move a joint after a lengthy period of passivity, they feel discomfort, and that discourages further use
What happens next is that the muscles become shortened with lengthened disuse and produces seizures and cramps that may be annoying and intensely painful. The immobilization of muscles, as researchers have demonstrated with laboratory animals, brings about biochemical changes in the tissue.
Deb Younkin is a long time analyst and promoter of healthy living and healthy exercise and weight loss. Deb loves sharing info in articles on her Best Diet Cleanse blog.
