Should you exercise when you have arthritis? If it is not because of recent discoveries that demonstrate exercises can reduce stiffness and joint pain, you may not even consider it. Doctors and physical therapists always recommend specific exercises to manage the arthritic pain. Exercises for arthritis consist of range-of-motions workouts, strengthening and endurance activities.
Range-of-motion exercises involve stretching. They keep your joints mobile and flexible to relieve stiffness at the joints. You should perform these stretching everyday if you want to be free from stiffness. Usually, you tend not to move the painful joints. Therefore, these exercises can encourage working on the affected joints to keep normal joint movement.
Strengthening exercises involve weight training. They help to strengthen your muscles. Strong muscles can protect inflamed and swollen joints due to arthritis. They also make the joints more stable so that you can move with lesser pain. Always use the correct postures when executing these exercises. If you carry out these sets with improper posture, your muscle will tear. This will lead to more pain and more joint swelling.
Strengthening drills comes in two types: isometric and isotonic. Isometric activities help to tighten your muscles without moving the joints. They can benefit those who suffer from damaged joint movement. On the other hand, isotonic exercises require movement of joint to strengthen the muscles. You should perform muscle-building sets on alternate days. If you experience severe pain or swollen joints, you should either reduce the repetitions or stop carrying out these drills.
Endurance exercises enhance your cardiovascular fitness and keep your weight under control. When you perform these sets, your muscle will use the calories. Inactivity can cause your muscle to store fats. Your weight can influence the arthritic condition. Excess weight on the joints can lead to more pain. Therefore, weight control is important to manage the painful condition of arthritis.
However, endurance exercises are not suitable for those with long-term rheumatoid arthritis and limited joint functions. You need to choose the right kind of endurance exercises for arthritis to prevent further joint injury.
If you experience pain that lasts for over an hour during the workout, then it is too strenuous for you. Consult your doctor and physical therapist to modify the exercise if you feel any strenuous signs such as consistent fatigue, intensified joint swelling, reduced range of motions, and elevated weakness.
As you can see, each of exercises for arthritis serves a different purpose. Each of them focuses on specific parts of a joint. No matter how painful it is, you can still perform exercises. If you are reluctant because of pain, you can start with water aerobics programs. As the water provides buoyancy for your body, exercising in the water may be a painless experience.
Exercises for arthritis can help you in arthritic pain management. They restore normal joint movement, mitigate stiffness, and improve flexibility of the joint's muscles. You will experience a reduction of arthritic symptoms such as joint pain and inflammation. Before you begin any program, request for a professional recommendation from your doctors and physical therapists. They can devise a suitable exercise program for you to deal with arthritis. They can tell you which exercises are off-limits.
