Crimes Against the Body : Exercise to Avoid

Not long ago, I visited a popular Westside gym. What I saw appalled me. Not one of the men and women exercising were doing so in a manner that didn’t pose at least some danger to his or her body. All of them appeared to accept without question an idea central to the Holy Writ of the fitness movement: If it isn’t hurting, it can’t be helping.

Throughout America, crimes against the body are being committed in the name of fitness. Perfectly healthy recreational athletes are cutting their playing time by years, even decades. With the best of intentions, they push their bodies with no understanding about what’s going on under their skin.

Problems associated with strenuous exercise result from movements that put unnatural stress on joints and tissue. These activities include weight lifting, jogging, aerobics, even yoga.

A joint is composed of two bones that come together for the purpose of movement. The end of every bone is covered with a cushioning substance known as cartilage. Bone is solid. Cartilage is semifluid and spongy. Cartilage absorbs the shock of compression when any kind of weight is placed upon the joint, and also secretes a lubricant whenever it is squeezed. This oil lubricates the joint and enables the two parts to move together without causing damage and pain.

As we age, however, the cartilage begins to dry out, crack and shrink, and as it does, what had been a smooth fit between two bones becomes rough. This process, known as degenerative arthritis, is inevitable and irreversible; the trick is to keep it to a minimum and retard its rate. The key to that is how much weight we bear and the manner in which we bear it.

Weight-bearing is unavoidable, but it need not be detrimental. It can even be desirable. Only when it’s excessive does it become a problem. If 100 pounds of body weight are bearing down on your hips, knees and ankles while you’re standing, 400 pounds are bearing down when you walk, and 800 to 900 pounds are bearing down when you jog. The cartilage is built to take the walking. It needs the walking. What it doesn’t need and cannot take is the pounding and grinding inflicted on it 900 times a mile when you jog. (If you’re an overweight jogger, the damage is that much worse.) Look what happens to the affected body parts:

The foot : Its bones are like a complex jigsaw puzzle of tiny pieces; the impact of jogging separates them. To complicate matters, as we age, our feet tend to point outward. They become floppier, less flexible and flatter. Once we begin to jog, those defects are magnified. The heel and ball of the foot have flattened out over time and become inviting targets for injuries.

The knee : As we jog, the kneecap rides up and down 900 times a mile, absorbing a force five to nine times the body weight at each stride. Under such duress, the ligaments and cartilage in each knee become strained, damaged and torn. Swelling, tenderness and arthritic changes can result.

Jogging isn’t bad for every knee. If you’re fortunate enough to have perfectly straight legs--neither bowlegged nor knock-kneed--you can probably jog without ill effect, provided that you don’t overdo it.

The hip joint : The leg fits into a hip like a ball into a socket. Jogging can damage that fitting so much that arthritis of the hip may result, making it painful to stand, let alone walk.

The low back : It’s built like a compression system, cushioned by sponges called disks. When we jog, we not only unduly squeeze the disk, but we also arch the back, which puts stress on the facet joints at the back of the spine. After a while, the squeezing of the disk and the rubbing of the cartilage can cause both disks and joints wear out.

One good thing that can be said about jogging is that it stimulates the heart, something you must do regularly to be fit and healthy. But many people would be far better off to cycle, swim, cross-country ski or strenuously walk, activities that work the heart without pounding the pavement.

Now let’s consider the other basic problem associated with excessive exercise, the stress and strain on ligaments.

Ligaments hold our bones together and guide their movements. Ligaments are made of tissue. All tissue has a limit to which it can be stretched. Beyond that point it tears, and eventually it breaks.

All joints have a normal range of motion. They will bend no farther than the ligaments permit. Bend a joint beyond its natural limit and the ligaments will tear. The natural limit of one person’s ligaments is different from another’s. Heredity is one factor. Age is another.

Stretching is essential to the maintenance of a healthy and youthful body, but good results cease if you stretch your tissues beyond their normal capabilities.

There is no question that yoga postures, as well as the stretching exercises done in aerobics classes, increase flexibility, but beware: When the tissue that holds joints in place is overstretched, it loses its elasticity and the joints can pop out.

So stretch only as far and for as long as it feels good. The instant you feel discomfort, pull back or stop.

Here are some movements to avoid:

Touching your toes with your knees locked.

Any exercise that begins with both legs straight in front of you and requires you to bend forward or backward at the waist.

Any exercise in which you hyperflex your knee. In other words, don’t do any exercise that requires bringing the foot back to the buttocks.

Any exercise in which you lift your straightened legs together while lying on your back.

Any exercise in which you strain to arch your back as far you can.

A certain amount of arching is inevitable in both exercise and sports and won’t hurt you, but exercise programs that require you to arch your back to your limit--yoga being a prime example--can not only cause wear and tear but can jam the joints of the back together and pinch the roots of the sciatic nerve.

There are people who can exercise strenuously throughout their lives and never wear out their body parts. The problem today is that millions of people who are exercising strenuously have bodies that are incapable of withstanding the strain. And age magnifies the problem. You should not exercise today in the same manner that you were exercising 10 or 20 years ago.

Having heard the case against too-strenuous exercise, particularly if you’re over 35, bear in mind that not exercising at all can cause as much or greater harm than overdoing it. An intelligent exercise program, sensibly and faithfully pursued, can not only make you feel better and defend you against illness but actually reverse the effects of aging as well and even prolong your life.