Lifestyle and home remedies (4)
- Arthritis pain: Do's and don'ts
- Exercise helps ease arthritis pain and stiffness
- Rheumatoid arthritis pain: Tips for protecting your joints
- see all in Lifestyle and home remedies
Treatments and drugs (2)
- Prednisone and other corticosteroids: Balance the risks and benefits
- Arthritis pain: Creams and gels for aching joints
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Exercise helps ease arthritis pain and stiffness
Tips to protect your joints
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. This aggravates your joint pain.
Consider these tips as you get started:
- Apply heat to the joints you'll be working before you exercise. Heat can relax your joints and muscles and relieve any pain you have before you begin. Heat treatments — warm towels, hot packs or a shower — should be warm, not painfully hot, and should be applied for about 20 minutes.
- Move your joints gently at first to warm up. You might begin with range-of-motion exercises for five to 10 minutes before you move on to strengthening or aerobic exercises.
- Exercise with slow and easy movements. If you start noticing pain, take a break. Sharp pain and pain that is stronger than your usual joint pain might indicate something is wrong. Slow down if you notice inflammation or redness in your joints.
Trust your instincts and don't exert more energy than you think your joints can handle. Take it easy and slowly work your exercise length and intensity up as you progress.
Don't overdo it
You might notice some pain after you exercise if you haven't been active for a while. In general, if your pain lasts longer than two hours after you exercise, you were probably exercising too strenuously. Talk to your doctor about what pain is normal and what pain is a sign of something more serious.
If you have rheumatoid arthritis, ask your doctor if you should exercise during general or local flares. One option is to work through your joint flares by doing only range-of-motion exercises, just to keep your body moving.
Exercise programs for people with arthritis
Check with your doctor about exercise programs in your area for people with arthritis. Hospitals and clinics sometimes offer special programs, as do local health clubs.
The Arthritis Foundation conducts exercise programs for people with arthritis in many parts of the United States. Programs include exercise classes — in water and on land — and walking groups. Contact your local branch for more information.
Previous page(2 of 2)
- Exercise and arthritis. American College of Rheumatology. http://www.rheumatology.org/practice/clinical/patients/diseases_and_conditions/exercise.asp. Accessed May 28, 2010.
- Gecht-Silver MR, et al. Patient information: Arthritis and exercise. http://uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 28, 2010.
- Callahan LF, et al. A randomized controlled trial of the People with Arthritis Can Exercise (PACE) program: Symptoms, function, physical activity and psychosocial outcomes. Arthritis & Rheumatism. 2008;59:92.
- Lorig K, et al. Exercise for fitness and better living. In: Lorig K, et al. The Arthritis Helpbook. 6th ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press; 2006:133.
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