Arthritis and working out

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erlagis
erlagis Posts: 20
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone

I was just wondering whether anybody here has arthritis.

I'm quite bad of arthritis and I try to eat healthy and work out to keep the pain in minimum. Some days are okay others are bad.

I just wanted to hear what you are doing to keep the pain in minimum, what kind of exercise you're doing, what food you eat and don't. Hopefully also just chat about life with arthritis and exchange advise.

Replies

  • BeachbodyCoachFletcher
    BeachbodyCoachFletcher Posts: 16
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    Hey,
    I have arthritis in my legs from injuries (Used to jump out of planes). I am not sure if this will help you or not, but do you drink diet drinks? I read a lot bout diet sodas causing joint pain so I decided to try giving them up. I am not here to bash diet drinks or anything, but personally, my pain was cut in half. Not saying it will work for everyone, but it helped me. Now I only drink water and the pain is much more managable. Now I actually do full P90X and Insanity workouts and just ice down a bit when my knees start swelling. Good luck and let me know if come across anything that helps you.
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
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    I have very bad arthritis as well but haven't really determined what works and what doesn't. I do know that being on my feet for more than a couple hours at a time is killer on my knees and feet so right now, I'm limiting my workouts to 30 minutes or less. I'm hoping once I get down to a better weight the pain won't be as bad. Haven't really identified any certain foods that trigger or help but I'm interested to see what everyone else has to day! Good topic!
  • chauncyrenayCHANGED
    chauncyrenayCHANGED Posts: 788 Member
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    Hey All.
    I have arthritis especially bad in my shoulders. Everywhere else as well. I walk mostly.
    I used to be a dancer, but stopped because of the pain. I try to dance as much as I can because it makes me happy.
    Haven't figured out the diet thing yet, what works for you? My doctor wants to put me on meds, but I don't want to do it. What kinds of things do you do for pain management?
  • chauncyrenayCHANGED
    chauncyrenayCHANGED Posts: 788 Member
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    @Beachbody... how did you manage to get to P90X? How bad was your arthritis before you started?
  • erlagis
    erlagis Posts: 20
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    @chauncyrenay I'm sorry to hear that you can't dance as much as you want to. I have been drinking ginger tea, I just buy a ginger root, cut some bits of it, put in a water, boil it and then drink it. I find that helpful
  • christmre
    christmre Posts: 109 Member
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    Hi! I have ra, and my most affected areas are my feet, so I understand how working out can be difficult. I have discovered that not drinking diet soda does help, also limiting my red meat and sugars, and increasing my intake of raw veggies has really helped with the pain and inflammation. Hope this helps!
  • Skinnyme87
    Skinnyme87 Posts: 42
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    I have joint damage and arthritis throughout various parts but my ankles are the worse...For me the elliptical seems easiest but I can only do 30min max before I'm in too much pain. Swimming is also nice but is a drive for me to do. I also have a recumbent stationary bike, which is ok. It doesn't seem to burn much calories though.

    For pain relief I use to take prescription pain meds but those made me feel tired a lot so now I just try to drink plenty of water and plain teas. The best relief I find is a nice hot bath.
  • pkmack
    pkmack Posts: 3
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    I'm having an insane level of pain under my knee caps and can barely stand or climb stairs after years of getting up and down off the floor teaching kindergarten. The great news is that the xrays show no damage to the knee structure and believe the pain is caused due to a tendon/ligament that has drawn up or tightened on the side of the leg. I don't know the name of it, I only know it runs from the hip to the side of the knee. The tightening seems to be pulling my knee cap off its natural track and is causing sharp pain. I am in physical therapy now. Meanwhile, my weight is going up due to my almost sedintary life.
    Are there any exercises that can stretch that band and help the knee cap get back into its "groove or track"?
    I am off all colas and diet sodas now.....and have been for a couple of months. Any other suggestions?
  • javamonster
    javamonster Posts: 272 Member
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    I have osteoarthritis in my ankle (fractured in three places as a teen) and neck. I feel much better when I work out regularly. When I finally got back to working out this year (treadmill walking/jogging mostly) my ankle was a bit rocky for the first while, but once I'm on a regular schedule it's pretty good. I'll be gimpy for an hour or so after but then I'm okay. And I'm on my feet all day because I run a barn full of horses. It also keeps my back/neck feeling pretty well, whereas just doing the horses alone left me feeling like a cripple every day.

    I take a joint supplement called Recovery and it really helps me - last summer I ran out and found out pretty quickly that it does make a big difference, because I couldn't walk. :-P Diet wise, omega-3 FAs are supposed to be great for reducing inflammation. I started feeding my arthritic horses ground flax because it's high in omega-3 and there really seems to be an improvement, but I haven't tried it on myself! Apparently hemp seed has an even better fatty acid profile than flax, and I do eat hemp hearts almost every day.

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