Arthritis Exercises - Relieve Pain With Exercises

There are over 100 forms of arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. These diseases may cause pain, stiffness, and swelling in joints and other supporting structures of the body such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Some forms can also affect other parts of the body, including various internal organs.

Studies have shown that exercise helps people with arthritis in many ways. Exercise reduces joint pain and stiffness and increases flexibility, muscle strength, cardiac fitness, and endurance. It also helps with weight reduction and contributes to an improved sense of well-being.

An exercise program can include anything from walking around the block, taking a yoga class, or playing a round of golf. In this section we've attempted to give you all the information you will need on how to start exercising and the proper way to incorporate exercise into the management of your arthritis.

As their names indicate, range-of-motion and stretching exercises have different purposes and thus target different parts of a joint. Range of Motion exercises help maintain or restore normal joint movement and relieve stiffness. Whereas, stretching exercises help maintain or restore normal flexibility to the joint's muscles and tendons.

Aerobic or endurance exercises (e.g., bicycle riding) improve cardiovascular fitness, help control weight, and improve overall function. Weight control can be important to people who have arthritis because extra weight puts extra pressure on many joints. Some studies show that aerobic exercise can reduce inflammation in some joints.

Side bends: Put hands on hips. Bend from the waist on one side, then come back up. Repeat on the other side.

Shoulder shrugs: Raise one or both shoulders up toward the ears. Lower and repeat.

Strengthening exercises can help to improve joint stability and decrease pain. Examples of exercises that build strength include the use of free weights, weight machines, or body weight (eg, modified squats to build knee strength).

Strength-building moves. Extra muscle helps support your joints, which may help reduce pain. The key to building muscle is resistance exercises, which involve pushing, pulling or bending your joints against a force. Even walking (pushing against gravity) builds muscles. As you get stronger, increase the resistance by adding hand weights or resistance bands. Unlike your daily flexibility exercises, try to do resistance exercises two or three times a week. Leave a day in between each session to give your body a chance to recover.

Aerobic arthritis exercises aren’t just good for your heart, but also aid in your treatment of arthritis pain and inflammation. Plus, aerobic arthritis exercises help you burn calories. (Weight does add to arthritis pain, because it puts added stress on joints like the knee joints.)

Yoga has long been an ultimate exercise for arthritis patients. Yoga can help bring relief to joints, decrease pain and relax muscles. It is also a good range-of-motion exercise as it includes controlled movements, maintaining pressures, and deep breathing relaxation. However this exercise must be carefully used if the condition is getting worse rapidly and try not to put pressure on the inflamed joints.

Talk to your doctor and/or health professional before starting an exercise program. A physiotherapist or exercise physiologist can suggest safe exercises and make sure you are doing your exercises correctly to prevent an injury.