Arthritis Exercise Programs

ARTHRITIS EXERCISE PROGRAMS

I subscribe to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter and every few months there’s another article relating to arthritis. No surprise, more than 45 million Americans are affected by it, myself included—in my knees and in my hands. These days, the Mayo Clinic and just about every other health letter or valid health website strongly recommends an arthritis exercise program.

Arthritis is inflammation of the joints, affecting one joint or multiple joints. There are more than 100 types of arthritis but the most common by far is osteoarthritis (OA) followed by a much smaller number afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Arthritis becomes common in adults over age 65, but can also develop in much younger folks. It is more common in women than men and in people who are overweight.

OA can affect any joint, but it occurs most often in knees, hips, lower back and neck, small joints of the fingers and the bases of the thumb and big toe. In normal joints, cartilage covers the end of each bone and provides a smooth, gliding surface for joint motion and acts as a cushion between the bones. In OA, the cartilage breaks down, causing pain, swelling and problems moving the joint. As OA worsens over time, bones may break down and develop growths called spurs.

RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the joints. These attacks affect the synovium, a soft tissue in joints that produces a fluid that nourishes the cartilage and lubricates the joints. RA can eventually lead to the destruction of both bone and cartilage inside the joint.

Exercise Helps Ease Arthritis Pain

Exercise is crucial for people with arthritis. It increases strength and flexibility, reduces joint pain and helps combat fatigue. Of course, when your joints are stiff and painful, the thought of taking a walk or swimming might seem overwhelming. But you don’t need to run a 10K or swim 50 laps. Even moderate exercise can ease your pain. Lack of exercise actually can make your joints even more painful and stiff because keeping your muscles and surrounding tissue strong is critical to maintaining support for your bones. Not exercising weakens those supporting muscles, creating more stress on your joints.

Exercise can help you improve your health and fitness without hurting your joints. The Mayo Clinic gives these advantages of an arthritis exercise program:

• Strengthens the muscles around your joints
• Helps maintain your bone strength
• Gives you more energy to get through the day
• Makes it easier to get a good night’s sleep
• Helps control your weight
• Improves your balance

 

Arthritis Exercises

Your doctor or physical therapist can recommend exercises for you, which might include:

Range-of-motion exercises These exercises relieve stiffness and increase your ability to move your joints through their full range of motion and can be done daily. Visit the Arthritis Foundation, www.arthritis.org, to view their 2-minute range of motion routine videos for different parts of the body.

Strengthening exercises These exercises help you build strong muscles that help support and protect your joints. A two or three-day-a week strength training program such as BodyPump (please refer to my BodyPump Strength Training post) ‎ will help you improve

Aerobic exercises These help with your overall fitness. They can improve your cardiovascular health, help you control your weight and give you more stamina and energy.  Low-impact aerobic exercises are easier on your joints and include, walking, swimming and other water exercises or using an elliptical machine. You can work your way up to 150 minutes per week. The Mayo Clinic advises avoiding high-impact and repetitive motion aerobics such as jumping, tennis and running or jogging. However, even though I have arthritis in my knees, I still jog 20 miles or more a week. Following the ChiRunning method (please refer to my Run For Joy–Longer & Injury Free post) with lose knees and moving the impact to my body core has made the difference.

Other activities Any movement helps, even mowing the lawn or walking the dog. Gentle forms of yoga or tai chi are also great as long as you avoid positions or movements that cause pain.

You’ll want to start slowly to ease your joints into exercise if you haven’t been active for a while. If you push yourself too hard, you can overwork your muscles and worsen your joint pain. And with any of the exercises, move your joints gently at first to warm up. And then exercise with slow and easy movements. If you feel pain, take a break. Sharp pain and pain that is stronger than your usual joint pain might indicate something is wrong. Talk to your medical practitioner about what pain is normal and what pain is a sign of something more serious.

Visit the Mayo Clinic website, www.mayoclinic.org, for more information on arthritis exercise programs plus other tips such as when to apply heat or cold, and the benefits of massage, acupuncture and meditation.