How to Exercise Safely with Arthritis
Arthritis is one of the leading causes of joint pain among American adults. Arthritis is a chronic, progressive condition that causes inflammation, swelling, pain, and stiffness in one or more joints. Exercise is one of the best ways to improve arthritic pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion in your joints. A physical therapist can develop a customized and effective exercise program to improve your mobility and function and decrease pain safely.
Common Types of Arthritis
There are two common types of arthritis: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that can result from a lifetime of joint motion and overuse as well as certain changes that occur in the body during aging. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage in joints breaks down and the bones rub together, leading to inflammation and pain, often affecting the hands, hips, knees, low back, or neck.
Rheumatoid arthritis is caused by auto-immune disease or dysfunction, in which your immune system attacks your joints, inflaming the linings of the joints and causing swelling. Rheumatoid arthritis impacts the hands, wrists, and feet first and can progress to hips and knees if untreated.
How Exercise Can Help Arthritic Pain
Physical therapy not only helps slow the onset of arthritis, but also reduces arthritic pain and improves fitness, mobility, and function through a personalized strength and conditioning exercise program. When you have arthritis, it can be painful to move your joints, which may lead to sedentary behavior. This exacerbates your arthritis, making your joints more stiff and painful.
Exercise keeps your joints from becoming too stiff, strengthens the muscles around your joints, and maintains bone and cartilage health and joint function. Following a thorough evaluation, the physical therapist designs a customized exercise program so that you can improve your fitness safely based on your specific condition and abilities.
The physical therapist will guide you through low-impact exercises to improve your fitness and the function of your joints, including:
Range of motion exercises and stretching to reduce stiffness and keep your joints flexible
Strengthening exercises to maintain or increase muscle strength, specifically targeting the muscles around affected joints so that the muscles can provide sufficient support and protection to the damaged joints.
Strengthening exercises can be either isometric in which you tighten the muscles but do not move the joints or isotonic, in which you strengthen the muscle by moving the joint
Aerobic conditioning to increase endurance, build stamina, and strengthen the cardiovascular system through walking, bicycling, or water exercise
Aquatic therapy and warm water fitness: Exercising in warm water reduces pressure on your joints by minimizing weight-bearing stress as well as decreasing swelling and providing temporary pain relief. Warm water exercise helps you build strength due to greater resistance in the water and improves mobility and balance as you can more easily exercise in water without pain due to the natural buoyancy of water.
Tips for Exercising with Arthritis
When exercising with arthritis, keep in mind these tips to safely exercise with minimal pain and maximum benefit:
Stretch before and after your workout to warm up your joints and muscles and allow your body to slowly cool down.
Exercise slowly and gently to warm up your joints, starting with range-of-motion exercise for 10 minutes prior to the workout before progressing to aerobic or strengthening exercises.
Use heat before exercising to relax your joints and muscles. Use ice to alleviate soreness and potential swelling in joints following exercise.
Vary your exercise routine day to day to avoid joint overuse from repetition.
Stay consistent with your exercise routine to maintain muscle strength, joint mobility, and overall fitness. Lack of exercise can make joints more painful and stiff.
When starting an exercise program, progress slowly, gradually building up the intensity and duration of your workout.
