Exercises for arthritis

gail1101

What exercises do you all do when you have arthritis and everything hurts?

ninerbuff

You can do exercises where you can reduce the resistance to toleration. For instance if you do a push up off the wall, how far you step your feet back will affect how much resistance you can do.

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AnnPT77

I have some osteoarthritis, in knees, hips, back mostly.

I don't know whether you're trying to lose weight, but in my case, losing weight noticeably reduced frequency and severity of pain/discomfort from the OA (and some other stuff like a torn meniscus).

Exercise is good for a body, of course, but not an essential thing for weight loss, if it's a struggle. If necessary, it can be done only with changes on the eating side of the equation. (I didn't significantly increase exercise to lose weight.)

Is there any chance your doctor would refer you for physical therapy? One thing that helped me with joint pain when still obese was learning (from physical therapy) how to walk and especially climb stairs in ways that would reduce stress on my joints going forward. I've also gotten tips from physical therapists about exercises that were safe for me, versus things that would make my joint issues worse.

I think the specific exercises a person can do will be somewhat individual, varying with the location(s) and severity of arthritis or other physical limitations. Some can do stretching, chair yoga, exercises with manageably small weights or exercise bands. There exist Tai Chi for arthritis classes in some places, and pool exercise for arthritis. Places to check would be community centers, community college or school system adult education classes, YMCAs, gyms, and even some hospital rehab facilities.

If you have access go a pool, even walking or other movement in water can be good, since the water supports some of our body weight, possibly reducing joint stress.

I had begun being active while still obese, quite gradually, starting with gentle yoga a couple of times a week, and progressing from there. Getting stronger and fitter also helped reduce joint pain, for me, fortunately. Between that, losing weight, and figuring out what my own individual body could do without worsening things, I'm lucky to be able to be quite active at this point. I know that you may have a more serious OA situation than I did or do.

I'm hoping you can find a path to improvement: Wishing you the best possible outcome!

springlering62

Several bouts of an illness over the decades left me with joint pain and arthritis.

It got to the point that to get up in the mornings, I had to slide down out of our tall four-poster, and hand-over-hand myself across the bed, down the small hall, past the sink and to the toilet every morning. Hands had to be on something simply to remain standing.

Some mornings found me sitting at the top of the stairs and sliding down them on my butt.

What really helped me was commiing to 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted stretching ever morning. I got up early to make sure I could commit.

I would cross my legs, do 30 hip circles each direction, recross my legs and do 30 each in the other.

I did seated forward folds, neck stretches, wrist stretches, standing folds, standing hip circles. Anything I could come up with to “lubricate” as many joints as possible.

This helped me tremendously. At the time I had several dachshunds who would pile on when they saw me on the floor. The enforced pet-pets helped me relax and not stress, and get into the stretches better. I got to the point I could do a seated wide legged forward fold with my forehead on the ground, one dog on my back, one sniffing my ear, and the third happily sitting on my neck.

Won’t lie. Weight loss was the biggest factor in reducing joint pain, and I have the joy and gift of being very active now. Still have joint pain, but it’s an irritation, no longer a limitation.

But those stretches literally saved my sanity, and probably my life.


I’m still make sure I stretch before a workout, always starting with those hip circles.