Quick Tips: Exercising Safely With Arthritis
Exercise is one of the best things you can do to help
prevent arthritis from getting worse. It can help keep your muscles strong and
reduce joint pain and stiffness. And it can help you reach and stay at a
healthy weight.
But you
want to make sure that you don't hurt your joints when you exercise. Before you
get started, ask your doctor what kind of activity would be good for
you.
These tips can help you exercise safely:
-
Pace yourself,
especially if you haven't exercised for a while. Start slowly, and don't push yourself too hard. Then
work your way up to where you can exercise for a longer time or do the exercise
with more effort.
-
Use medicine.
If your joint pain gets worse after exercise, you may want to take an over-the-counter pain medicine before you exercise, such as acetaminophen (for example,
Tylenol) or a
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as ibuprofen (for example, Advil or Motrin), naproxen (for example, Aleve), or aspirin (for example, Bayer or Bufferin). After you're done, ice the joints that hurt.
-
Rest your joints if they are
swollen. For example, if your knees are swollen, don't use the stairs for a few
days. Walk a shorter distance, and switch to swimming or riding an indoor
bike.
Know when you have sore muscles and not joint pain. If
your muscles are sore, you can safely exercise through the soreness. (You could
exercise through joint pain too, but it's not safe to do so.)
If you have
joint pain that lasts for more than a day after you exercise, you need
to:
-
Rest the joint until
your pain gets back to the level that is normal for you.
-
Exercise for less time or with less effort.
-
Try another exercise that doesn't cause pain.
Other Places To Get Help
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Organizations
|
American Occupational Therapy
Association
|
| 4720 Montgomery Lane, P.O. Box 31220 |
| Bethesda, MD 20824-1220 |
| Phone: | (301) 652-2682 |
| Fax: | (301) 652-7711 |
| TDD: | 1-800-377-8555 |
| Web Address: | http://www.aota.org |
| |
|
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is the
nationally recognized professional association of approximately 35,000
occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students of
occupational therapy. AOTA's mission is to advance the quality, availability, use,
and support of occupational therapy through standard-setting, advocacy,
education, and research on behalf of its members and the public.
|
|
|
Arthritis Foundation
|
| P.O. Box 7669 |
| Atlanta, GA 30357 |
| Phone: | 1-800-283-7800 |
| Web Address: | www.arthritis.org |
| |
|
The Arthritis Foundation provides grants to help find a
cure, prevention methods, and better treatment options for arthritis. It also
provides a large number of community-based services nationwide to make living
with arthritis easier, including self-help courses; water- and land-based
exercise classes; support groups; home study groups; instructional videotapes;
public forums; free educational brochures and booklets; the national, bimonthly
consumer magazine Arthritis Today; and continuing
education courses and publications for health professionals.
|
|
|
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and
Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Institutes of Health
|
| 1 AMS Circle |
| Bethesda, MD 20892-3675 |
| Phone: | 1-877-22-NIAMS (1-877-226-4267) toll-free |
| Phone: | (301) 495-4484 |
| Fax: | (301) 718-6366 |
| TDD: | (301) 565-2966 |
| Email: | niamsinfo@mail.nih.gov |
| Web Address: | www.niams.nih.gov |
| |
|
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal
and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is a governmental institute that serves the public
and health professionals by providing information, locating other information
sources, and participating in a national federal database of health
information. NIAMS supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention
of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases and supports the training of
scientists to carry out this research. The NIAMS website provides
health information referrals to the NIAMS Clearinghouse, which has information
packages about diseases.
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By
| Healthwise Staff |
|
Primary Medical Reviewer
| Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine |
|
Specialist Medical Reviewer
| David A. Fleckenstein, MPT - Physical Therapy |
|
Last Revised
| April 8, 2011 |
Last Revised:
April 8, 2011
