Joint health

Joint problems
Many people experience joint-related problems, whether they are aware of it or not. Typically the cause is poor usage.
Bad habits cultivated over years distort the skeleton and force the body to operate with bad alignment.

Movement
Mobility is crucial. We move our bodies all the time. Joints facilitate movement. Good joint health equals ease of movement.

Exercise is good?
It is easy to say that exercise will help the joints but this is not necessary true. As a statement this is too vague and misleading.

Appropriate for you?
Some types of exercise are good for the body, some are not. Also, which exercise is appropriate for you? For your specific body and condition of health/fitness? How you exercise is as important as the type of exercise... Avoid overtaxing the body.

Qigong
The qigong exercises that begin a typical tai chi class focus upon lengthening and strengthening the major muscle groups that support the body. The exercises require stamina and endurance.

Biomechanics
The key to understanding joint health is to commit time to the exploration of biomechanics. Set aside opinions, habits and ideas. Pay attention to what the human body actually does.

Find out for yourself
Discover what is strong and what is weak. What is supported and what is vulnerable. There is a tangible difference between good body use and poor, and the results are quite easy to demonstrate and prove.

Learn
A good tai chi class will teach the student how to perform everyday actions in a healthy way. Whole-body strength shares the workload across the body and reduces stress on individual joints. Awareness, sensitivity, balance, understanding and medically sound principles enable the individual to use their body more skilfully.