By Nanette Wiser
Motion is lotion and the right low-impact exercises such as swimming and walking can ease arthritis pain and stiffness. It increases strength and flexibility, reduces joint pain, controls weight, improves balance and helps combat fatigue. Lack of exercise actually makes your joints more painful and stiff. The muscles and surrounding tissue help maintain support for your bones, and not exercising weakens those supporting muscles and stresses your joints.
Talk with your doctor before starting an arthritis exercise program, then consider what’s within your limits and what level of exercise will work best for the joints involved. They might recommend a physical therapist to help you develop the right exercise program that might include range of motion, strengthening, aerobic exercises or other activities such as walking the dog.
Range-of-motion exercises relieve stiffness and increase your ability to move your joints through their full range of motion. These exercises might include movements such as raising your arms over your head or rolling your shoulders forward and backward. In most cases, these exercises can be done daily. Strengthening exercises such as weight training can help you build strong muscles that help support and protect your joints. Low-impact aerobic exercise such as walking, bicycling, swimming, and using an elliptical machine can help improve cardiovascular health, control weight, improve stamina and energy. Body awareness exercises, such as yoga or tai chi can help improve balance, prevent falls, improve posture and coordination, and promote relaxation.
Be sure to tell your instructor about your condition and avoid positions or movements that can cause pain. Start slowly to ease your joints gently 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. If you feel pain, take a break. Slow down if you notice swelling or redness in your joints.
Before you begin, apply warm heat to relax your joints and relieve any pain for about 20 minutes. After exercising, apply ice to your joints for up to 20 minutes. With joint pain, you want to stay hydrated and reduce inflammation by avoiding heavily processed foods, red meat, foods high in sugar or MSG, fried foods, alcohol, refined carbohydrates, gluten, and purines.