PUBLISHED 11/12/2007
Recurring and improperly rehabbed injuries can lead to osteoarthritis, says Steven L. Haddad, M.D., of Northwestern University, whose specialty is foot and ankle surgery. By adding these exercises to your routine two or three times a week, you can avoid ending up on Dr. Haddad's (or another orthopedic surgeon's) operating table.
Ankles: An ankle sprain causes you to lose some of your balance, which sets you up to sprain it again and increase your arthritis risk. This exercise guards against that.
One-Foot Balance (pictured above):
Holding a pair of dumbbells, balance on your left leg. Do eight to 10 biceps curls while standing on one leg. If you're feeling unstable, you can touch your right leg down in between reps. The goal is to stand on one leg the entire time. For your second set, switch legs.
Knees and Hips: The combination of a weak gluteus medius and a tight iliotibial band can cause runner's knee and hip bursitis, says Catherine Kujawa Irwin, P.T., with the Illinois Bone & Joint Institute. "If everything is being stabilized the right way in the hips and knees, there is less abnormal motion and less breakdown of cartilage," she says. Here are two exercises that target these areas.
Leg Lift:
Put a resistance band around your ankles. Stand on your left leg with your knee slightly bent. Lift your right leg up and extend it back at a 45-degree angle. Do three sets of 15 on both legs.
The Stork:
Stand with your right side a few inches from a wall. Balancing on your left leg, bend your right knee, then press it into the wall as you squeeze your glutes. Keep a slight bend in your left leg and don't let your shoulder rest on the wall--only your knee should make contact. Hold for 30 seconds (work up to a minute), then repeat on the other side.
