Arthritis Treatments        Arthritis Pain

 Exercise and Arthritis

Exercise and arthritis works!  Many people who have rheumatoid arthritis "will" their way into exercising because they know it works and it gives them a positive self image.  Their will enables them to have some control over their bodies and they are not willing to sit around feeling sorry for themselves.  They know exercise can help arthritis pain and they are doing something about it.  So, should you.

I know if you have arthritis you will have some days that are just horrible.  However, you will have a lot of good days or parts of a day, that are good to exercise for your arthritis pain. Just remember this:  exercise and arthritis do not like each other.  It's the blood, flowing through your body that really helps fight against arthritis. Besides your physical improvements exercise is wonderful for your self image.  Nothing feels better than finishing a great workout.

WARNING

Before you start any type of exercise program talk to your doctor first.  It's that important.

When you start your exercise program don't be afraid to ask your doctor for recommendations and try to talk to other people who suffer from arthritis or arthritis symptoms.

The 3 main components to exercise and arthritis are:

• Range of Motion  (Flexibility)
• Resistance  (Strength)
• Endurance  (Cardiovascular)

To be very truthful, I would be very surprised if your doctor told you NOT to start working on  your range of motion, strength and cardiovascular exercisesl.  Your doctor will probably give you some recommendations on whom to visit, what to start with and how to perform those exercises for your arthritis.  Other good choices are:

• exercise therapists
• personal trainers
• physical therapists

Any of the people above who have experience working with patients who have arthritis is whom I would seek out first. 

Exercise and arthritis in greater details

Range of Motion or flexibility.  Arthritis tries very hard to make your joints stiff and hard to move.  All of us with arthritis need to work hard at maintaining our range of motion and we should work everyday on it.  The less you move your joints the harder it will become to re-gain your flexibility so try very hard to keep up with your stretching exercises. If you want to beat arthritis one of the first things you should do is start with a good flexibility program.

Mornings before you get out of bed is a great time to start stretching.  Start simple and work your way to harder stretches that must be accomplished standing or sitting.  One of the first things I do is grab my knees and bring them to my chest.  I try to hold that for a while before I straighten my legs out and reach down to my toes. No, I can't touch my toes, but the stretching of my back and hamstring muscles is a wonderful exercise and arthritis reliever. 

My mother loves to sit on the edge of the bed just bending over her knees and letting her arms hang down to the floor.  This helps her wrists, shoulders, back and legs.  She will then sit up and start moving her wrists backward as far as they can go and holds it for 20 seconds or so.  She then pushes them the other way and then starts working on her fingers.

If we owned one, I'd be sitting in a hot tub the minute I woke up.  What a great way to warm up, stretch and start a day, don't you think?  Arthritis wouldn't have a chance if I owned one of those.

A key teaching point for exercise and arthritis is to hold your stretch without bouncing. Stretch your muscles to the point of resistance and hold it for 10 to 15 seconds.  When you finish, relax for a moment and do it again. I like to do this 3 different times and I also try to stretch several times a day for my arthritis pains.

If you have lower back pain, stretching your hamstrings is very powerful.  Your hips can get pushed into positions that are uncomfortable because one set up muscles are tighter than others.

Strengthening exercises are usually accomplished by resitance to an object. What you are probably thinking is weights and that is correct. But, there are other forms of resistance and the one you might not realize is gravity.  Gravity is also a resistance type of exercise and if you are just to weak to lift something then try to lift against gravity. Sitting in a chair while keeping your legs straight out in front of you, slowly lift them up and down.  This is a great warmup exercise against resistance.

Riding a bike is a resistance exercise.  The pushing with both legs one at a time is excellent to build your leg strength. Push ups, sit ups, squats and pull-ups are excellent ways to build muscle strength, without having to pay for a health club membership.  Other forms of resistance exercises include riding a stationary bike, walking up steps and pushing a lawn mower.  Be creative and allow yourself to try different things that will benefit your arthritis pain.

Cardio exercises include: walking, joging, biking, swimming and peddling your stationary bike with your hands and arms. 

Located behind our small town is this very steep hill. Every time I climb that hill and reach the top I feel so much better and my back and knees stop hurting.

One more aspect that should probably be mentioned is the fact that I do believe in supplementation.  With all my meals I include a drink loaded with vitamins, minerals and other products that target arthritis pain.  

The following are my personal favorite exercises for arthritis:

• Walking up hills
• General walking around town or countryside
• Riding my bike
• Cutting the lawn with a push mower
• Walking and swimming in pools
• Pitching batting practice to my baseball teams
• Hitting fundo's to my baseball teams

If you are a person who is fighting arthritis, please do not allow this to beat you.  Get tough, take action and build a positive self image of yourself.

Make it a pain free week.

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