Treating Arthritis Pain With Exercise Overview

No matter how much your arthritis seems to trip you up, you can take steps to maintain control over your life and your daily activities. One essential step is exercising. Making proper exercise a part of your daily routine helps keep your bones and muscles strong and helps you stay flexible, giving you the physical tools you need to stay in control.

Proper movement of the joints during a carefully planned exercise program helps prevent the loss of calcium from bones, which can make bones brittle and fragile. It helps prevent loss of muscle tone that can make you weak and injury-prone. And it helps nourish cartilage, the tough elastic tissue that covers the ends of bones and helps cushion and protect. In this article, we will help you create an exercise routine that will work with your arthritis over the course of the following sections:
  • Exercises to Keep Your Joints Healthy

    While exercise is important when you have arthritis, any sort of physical exertion will be nearly impossible if your joints are too weak to support it. On this page, we will offer some tips for strengthening your joints before you hit the gym. Whether you a stretching before taking a walk or after a long car trip, we will show you how to prepare your body for exercise and keep your joints nourished.

  • How to Plan an Arthritis Exercise Program

    As hard as it is to plan and stick to an exercise regimen, it is much more difficult for a person suffering from arthritis. When joint pain begins to flare up, simply walking down the hall might seem like an insurmountable task. In this section, we will show you how to set realistic goals that will keep you focused and excited about your arthritis exercise program. We will also tell you what type of exercise clothing is best for arthritis patients.

  • Range of Motion Exercises for Arthritis

    As the pain and stiffness of arthritis advances, most patients will find that they have lost a great deal of their flexibility. Also, long periods of inactivity can also make your joints stiff and cut down on your range of motion. In this section, we will show you some simple range of motion exercises for your entire body that can help you reclaim some of the flexibility you have lost to arthritis.

  • Strengthening Exercises for Arthritis

    If you are feeling healthy enough, the best thing you can do to support your joints and relieve some of the pain of arthritis is to strengthen and condition the muscles around them. Of course, with a condition like arthritis, any strengthening regimen must be approached with caution. On this page, we will show you how to safely build the muscles in your neck, back, shoulders, knees, and abdominals. We will also offer some exercise alternatives like aqua-aerobics.
This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.