Water Aerobics and Dea’s Knees…

They aren’t the “bee’s knees,” either.  I had to take a week off from exercising because I sprained my knee.  And unfortunately, the story isn’t exactly exciting.  I was sitting in a chair.  Yeah, that’s right, apparently sitting in a chair is now dangerous activity for me.  People with osteo-arthritis are prone to weird strains and sprains like this.  Lovely.

After a week off from exercise, I’ve been eager to get back into motion.  Eating healthier is only half the plan for me.  I need to move more so that I will be able to move at all, if that makes sense.  Keeping my knees healthy may help me avoid surgery for a nice long while.

Today I tried  some deep water aerobics.  Basically, it’s the same sorts of moves as normal water aerobics, but in the deep end of the pool with a floatie to keep your head above water.  It’s zero impact, which is great news for anyone with joint problems, arthritis, or who want to start exercising but feel clumsy or too heavy to do anything with impact on the joints.  I love it.  If you can find a class, I highly recommend it.  I’ve taught water aerobics, so I was winging this on my own while my five year old played shark beside me.

It felt very, very good.  Moving, tiring out the muscles, and bringing up the heart rate was a nice change.  I don’t hurt either.  I know it’s not as much of a calorie burner as tomorrow morning’s spin class will be, but this is a good change of pace.  It has a lot of benefit for toning, and for core muscles.  It also has the huge plus of being in the pool, and I love the water.

My physical therapist said that was a really good thing to have done.  He worked on my traitorous knees, and I left feeling stronger and more relaxed.

Next up, I’m thinking of trying Pilates.  Stay tuned!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3, 2009 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Weight Loss, Exercise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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