I have not exercised in weeks because of my joints! Help
raquele1972
Posts: 4 Member
Any idea what should I start with? I really don’t want to hurt my knees! I need help.,,
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Replies
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Walking? What is the problem? What has your doctor or therapist suggested?0
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I didn’t go to the Dr. I have arthritis in my knees and back was diagnosed a couple months ago. But every time I start exercising my knees starts hurting.0
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raquele1972 wrote: »I didn’t go to the Dr. I have arthritis in my knees and back was diagnosed a couple months ago. But every time I start exercising my knees starts hurting.
What did your doctor tell you about your arthritis? Do you need an anti-inflammatory?
ETA I didn’t make sense.1 -
Water exercise. Chair exercise. Walking, but start super slow—much slower than you think. Think you can walk a mile? Take an extra trip to the mailbox instead. Add very slowly from there.2
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I have arthritis so I feel your pain, literally.
My physio and doctor have helped me by telling me this.
First you need to relieve the inflammation and pain, in my case this was a cocktail of pain and anti inflammatory meds. Once the pain had been relieved then it was gentle exercises.
The most important advice was to lose weight. This in itself can relieve the stress on your joints and alleviate the pain. This is true and works well. My Arthritis calmed down so much after I lost 20lbs. And remember you can do this by diet only you don't need to exercise. Having said that their advice to me regarding exercise was this:
1. Before I get out of bed I do some stretching exercises, for me they consist of gentle rotation of joints starting at the ankles and working up through knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck. They are specific exercises shown to me by my physio.
2. Avoid high impact movements like jumping or running instead try walking and swimming. A most useful piece of kit is a pair of hiking poles. They not only relieves the stress on your knees/hips but also give you stability especially on uneven ground and you can walk a little further with this kind of support. I felt a bit embarrassed at first but they really helped me to get out and about so much.
3. Once you get moving again start lifting weights, start slowly and build up as this strengthens the muscle around the joint and helps take the pressure off.
4. You will know how far to push, there will be days when you can climb mountains and days where you can barely move and need medication and rest. Don't let the bad days scare you into not doing anything on the good days.
5. Make a note of things that set it off and try to find ways of either gently building up a tolerance or ways around them. For me carrying heavy shopping bags sets it off in my hands so I have my shopping delivered or take my husband to carry the bags. Walking up too many stairs will set of my hips and knees. However by walking up more stairs and building up a tolerance on good days that is getting better.
This last 18 months have been really good in fact I actually did climb a mountain, well walked up one. Yes I did suffer for a few days afterwards but the sense of achievement carried me through.
I am having a bad flare up lately but I know I can manage it and it will subside eventually. I think it is a combination of cold weather coming and stress from caring for my elderly mum.
It is the fear of causing yourself more pain that can effect you mentally and stop you even trying to move. You have to fight this or you won't do the things that can actually help. It is as much a mental attitude as it is a physical one. You can work on it and work through it and improve it.
Sorry this is so long.
TLDR: Professional diagnoses, medication and exercise advice is crucial. Lose weight. Walk. Swim, Lift weights. Rest when you must, exercise when you are able. Push yourself gently but firmly and don't give up.
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Get joints checked by othopedic to rule out or in any possible surgical correction. For years, I resisted this notion so far as my badly deteriorating arthritic hips. It was the worst mistake and worst time in my life! When I finally had had enough, getting hip replacements earlier this year was the best decision I have made in my life! Failing my story and suggestion find a facility with year round access to pool or warm water therapy and exercise there.2
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geraldaltman wrote: »Get joints checked by othopedic to rule out or in any possible surgical correction. For years, I resisted this notion so far as my badly deteriorating arthritic hips. It was the worst mistake and worst time in my life! When I finally had had enough, getting hip replacements earlier this year was the best decision I have made in my life! Failing my story and suggestion find a facility with year round access to pool or warm water therapy and exercise there.
Add this to my advice. Correct diagnosis and finding the right treatment for you particular type of arthritis is key. I have Osteo Arthritis which is not as bad as some other types and is more manageable without surgery. But other kinds may need surgical intervention.1 -
Are you resistance training?
Benefits are great and really good for joint health long term.2 -
Hello, I am a fitness instructor (FI) but currently studying a degree in sport science. I am slowly replacing my knowledge with sports science but I will tell you what I have learnt from FI for now.
The objective is to avoid directly loading the joint. There are two ways of achieving this. Water based exercise and the Recumbent bike. Depending on the stress you have on the knee joint, I would suggest picking one of these two. I would avoid vertical loading and focus on working the muscles rather than placing load on the joints. Outside of my knowledge, I believe that there are upper body based cardiovascular exercises but I never touched on these.
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fitnessboxermfp wrote: »Hello, I am a fitness instructor (FI) but currently studying a degree in sport science. I am slowly replacing my knowledge with sports science but I will tell you what I have learnt from FI for now.
The objective is to avoid directly loading the joint. There are two ways of achieving this. Water based exercise and the Recumbent bike. Depending on the stress you have on the knee joint, I would suggest picking one of these two. I would avoid vertical loading and focus on working the muscles rather than placing load on the joints. Outside of my knowledge, I believe that there are upper body based cardiovascular exercises but I never touched on these.
As someone with bad knees, I adore the recumbent bike (indoors, perhaps obviously).
I also went to a physical therapist and am doing exercises to try to improve my knees.1 -
Exercise is actually good for arthritis. Talk to your doctor first, but chances are they will recommend walking, swimming, pool exercises, recumbant bike, tai chi, etc.3
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Joints and ligaments are a pain in the neck! With my huge weight I was advised to start with water aerobics. Good advise, most of my weight is gone in the pool - floating about like a walrus. Next I will do a bit of cycling: initially stationary, my aim is to eventually get onto the road. Cycling also helps with pain relief.3
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I'm a big swimmer. Well, not as big as I used to be! I re-started swimming about 10 years ago when I injured my knee. Although I've completely recovered and can jog and bike, I still swim twice a week.
Anyway, I can report that we all weigh practically zero under water, so if you want to un-weight yourself, wade right in! Water aerobics are easier than swimming and are a great place to start. There is also something called an aqua-bike, which is a stationary bike that goes in about 5' of water. It's quite popular at my pool.
BTW: I am sure that we are all fairly terrified of putting on a bathing suit and going "out in public." You do get over it; it actually creates camaraderie among the participants. I have never heard a discouraging word toward anyone who is working out at a pool.3 -
I've had OA for a long time--I'm 64. I've been swimming + acquagym for 23yrs. I also stretch early mornings for an hour 3 times a week. I do lite yoga and strength training. Movement is so important. Without it I stiffen up. See your doctor for recomendations. Good luck, but don't give up on this or it just gets worse.2
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At some point, maybe one of those Velcro knee wraps with a hole for the knee cap will give you enough support to avoid pain. They are especially sold for athletes, who do a lot more than I do when wearing them after injuries. I don't squat or run or jump... I have a couple different ones that help when I bang up my already wonky knees or twist it. Bracco and the heavier-duty Exous are what I have, I use either one at different stages. You can see reviews of those and others on Amazon to see if anything sounds helpful. Also YouTube has reviews.
A knee brace helps me with regular walking and walk in place and even up to a certain point in the healing process with walking up and down stairs and even lying in bed. (After that point, I think it's better without the brace.)
Walk in place might be good to try for exercise because you could especially easily adjust to how long you can go comfortably. You can adjust the pace and also the type of movement. Sometimes a sidestep is more comfortable for me than a moderate up and down movement. I don't try to "race" or "work out", just do it while reading or playing games or watching tv or on the phone. Keeping moving is what I'm after.
You also can do walk in place steps while sitting down.
Also a glucosamine supplement always helps me with my knees, and I double the dose when the knee is more of a problem than the usual wonkiness. Don't know if it helps with your condition. My underlying problem is genetic and kicked in by age 12. Couldn't safely run after that. Takes a few weeks to tell if it is helping or not, in my experience.
A consult with a good physical therapist might be helpful for more ideas and suggestions.0 -
Weight loss helped with my joint pain. It’s kinda chicken and the egg, and I had to decide that the one was worse than the other and suck it up for a while. But once I dropped a few, much off the pain diminished and in some locations disappeared altogether.1
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raquele1972 wrote: »I didn’t go to the Dr. I have arthritis in my knees and back was diagnosed a couple months ago. But every time I start exercising my knees starts hurting.
What kind of exercises are you doing?
I recommend contacting the person who diagnosed you and asking for a referral to a physical therapist.
Here are the knee strengthening exercises my PT gave me:
I do those regularly plus a lot of the cardio exercises mentioned above. The key is starting out slowly and gradually working up to doing more. Also, for weight bearing exercises like walking, very good shoes are key.
When swimming, I wear snorkle flippers (these are longer than the flippers I've seen at pools but shorter than deep ocean flippers.) This may or may not be helpful to you.1 -
springlering62 wrote: »Weight loss helped with my joint pain. It’s kinda chicken and the egg, and I had to decide that the one was worse than the other and suck it up for a while. But once I dropped a few, much off the pain diminished and in some locations disappeared altogether.
That what I was thinking. I did elliptical and walked total of 50 minutes of exercise. My knees hurt a little but I feel good in general.1 -
With the note that each case is different, something I've come across recently that bothers my knees and feet MUCH less than walking is lower intensity rowing (Erg machine - concept2). If you do look into this, you might run it by the professional(s) to assure it would work with your needs, and be sure to learn about proper form and operation of a rowing machine before beginning. There are several useful resources out there. I got started with the information and references contained in this thread on MFP:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10770913/starting-with-rowing-exercise/p10
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