Excessive exercise can harm bones

While exercising is a very good way to keep your body and joints active and healthy, excessive exercising that tests the limits of your body’s strength can sometimes have negative effects. It can not only cause sprains in the wrist, neck and back or hurt the muscles but can also cause damage to shoulders, knees. These are issues that are very important but most people do not understand.

Running on a treadmill can damage your knee, as it is different from running on the ground. When you are running on a treadmill, you are trying to match the speed of the machine. The point contact pressure is on a very limited area of the knee and it is repeated every few seconds. When you are running on a track or on grass, your position is changing constantly plus you are not trying to match the speed of a machine. The point contact pressure on the knee is not on the same area as your position is changing. This reduces the pressure on the knee and prevents the chances of wear and tear. People who are running on a treadmill for half an hour plus time, are not doing the right thing. This will not have an immediate effect but over a period of time it will start showing bad impact on the knee.

Similar is the case with lifting weights. One has to make sure that he doesn’t lift beyond his muscles’ strength. It may cause sprain in the muscles and it can also lead to a disc prolapse. If weight is lifted beyond what the muscles can withstand, its impact is transferred to the spine. The disc is one of the most sensitive areas in the spine and as the pressure increases it can rupture the disc and cause the fluid to come out. The milder effects can be wrist sprain, elbow pain, neck sprain. One should start with lesser weights and increase the weights slowly. While lifting weights, posture of the body is also important. If you lift more than your capacity or with a wrong posture, you may be left with injuries.

Similarly too much push ups can damage the shoulder. The adequate amount of exercise is what is in conjugation with the strength of the person. The right approach is to keep testing yourself with smaller amounts and increase the level gradually. Make sure you do not go beyond your strength.