How can I prevent knee and hip pain from a sedentary lifestyle?

Set a timer to remind you to get up and move every 30 to 60 minutes. Stretches for hamstrings, quads and calves are helpful. Walking for 10 to 15 minutes (outdoors, up/down the stairs, around the office) during lunch would also help. You can also do leg raises at your workstation every hour or so to keep your muscles limber and the blood flowing.

People can do a few things to help avoid having knee and hip pain. Losing weight is important. Our country is in the midst of a huge obesity problem, and that puts a lot of stress on joints -- one of the starting factors for hip and knee pain. You should also stretch before and after any physical activities, including walking. Those are the main things that you can do to keep yourself in good physical shape for the tasks at hand.

Knee and hip pain due to a sedentary lifestyle or work environment is common and most likely is associated with muscle imbalances and lack of flexibility. Consultation with your doctor and a health and fitness professional is critical for treatment and/or prevention of these problems.

To help prevent knee pain when sitting, periodically check how you are bearing weight while sitting in your chair. Is one cheek loaded more than another? Is one leg rotated inward? Does one hip seem to be more hiked up than the other? When bending down to sit, are one or both knees collapsing in? How about when standing up: do your knees briefly drift in together? If so, begin fixing these problems.