Exercise helps ease arthritis pain and stiffness

Everyone needs exercise, but it's especially important for people with arthritis. Exercise helps make muscles stronger and makes moving easier. Movement helps keep joints working smoothly. Exercise can lower joint pain and helps people feel less tired.

When joints hurt or feel stiff from arthritis, exercise may sound hard. But it doesn't have to be. There's no need to run a marathon or swim for miles. Consistency in your exercise is more important than intensity. Even moderate exercise can ease pain and help your joints. Exercise also can help you stay at a healthy weight. In short, when arthritis tries to slow you down, exercise can keep you moving.

The right kinds of exercise can improve health and fitness without hurting joints. When exercise is part of your arthritis care plan, it can improve your daily life. Exercise can:

• Strengthen muscles around joints.
• Help keep bone strength.
• Increase energy.
• Make it easier to sleep well.
• Help control weight.
• Improve balance.
• Improve mood.

Strong muscles support your joints. Not exercising weakens those supporting muscles. Weak muscles put more stress on joints, which can make pain worse.

Talk to your healthcare professional about making exercise a part of your treatment. The best exercises depend on the type of arthritis and which joints are affected. A member of your healthcare team, such as a physical therapist, can help you choose exercises that are safe and helpful for you.

Exercises for arthritis might include exercises that put joints through their full range of motion and strengthening exercises. Exercise that raises heart rate, known as aerobic exercise, is also important. If you have arthritis in your hips, knees or ankles, your healthcare professional may recommend that you do exercises that are gentle on your joints, called low-impact exercise. Other gentle forms of exercise can help, too.

These exercises help reduce stiffness and keep joints moving by putting them through their full range of motion. Examples include stretching arms up high or rolling shoulders forward and backward. Most of these exercises can be done every day.

These exercises help build muscle. Strong muscles are important to support and protect the joints. Examples of strengthening exercises include using resistance bands, hand weights, weight machines or your own body weight.

Weight training should typically be done at least two days a week. Try to include all the major muscles in the body.

Exercise that raises the heart rate, known as aerobic exercise, helps with overall fitness. Aerobic exercise can improve heart and lung health, help manage weight and increase energy. Examples of aerobic exercises that are low impact and easy on joints include walking, bicycling, swimming and water aerobics.

Try to work up to 150 minutes of somewhat hard aerobic exercise every week. You can exercise for short periods of time throughout the day if that's easier on your joints.

It's best to do moderate aerobic activity most days of the week. But even a couple of days a week can help. Try to get to a level where your breathing is harder than usual, but you can still talk.

Exercises that focus on how the body moves, such as gentle forms of yoga or tai chi, also can help. This type of exercise can improve balance, lower the risk of falls and help your body relax.

If you're in an exercise class, tell your teacher about your arthritis. Listen to your body. Don't do anything that causes pain.

Any movement, no matter how small, can help. Daily activities such as mowing the lawn, raking leaves and walking the dog also count as helpful physical activity.

If you haven't exercised in a while, start slowly. Doing too much too fast can increase pain.

Consider these tips:

• Choose low-impact exercise. Activities such as stationary or recumbent bicycling, elliptical trainer workouts, or exercise in the water are easier on joints.
• Use heat before exercise. Warm towels, hot packs or a warm shower can relax muscles and lessen pain before exercise. The temperature should be warm, not painfully hot. Aim for about 20 minutes.
• Warm up gently. Move joints gently at first to warm up. You might begin with range-of-motion exercises for 5 to 10 minutes before you move on to strengthening or aerobic exercises.
• Go slowly. Exercise with slow and easy movements. If you feel pain, take a break. Sharp pain and pain that's worse than the usual joint pain might mean something is wrong. Slow down if you see swelling or a change in skin color around the joints.
• Use ice after exercise. Ice can help reduce swelling. Use ice on your joints for up to 20 minutes after activity if needed. This is even more important if your joints are swollen.

Listen to your body. Don't push too hard. Build up slowly. Add more and harder exercise as you get stronger.

You might feel some pain and stiffness after exercise if you haven't been active for a while. In general, if pain gets worse or continues after exercise, you might be pushing too hard. Try shorter or less frequent exercise sessions. Talk to your healthcare professional about how to know when pain is a sign of something more serious.

If you have rheumatoid arthritis, ask your healthcare team what to do during flare-ups, when the symptoms get worse. You might work through your joint flares by doing only range-of-motion exercises. Or you might exercise in the water. Even during flares, it's good to keep your body moving.

Ask your healthcare team about exercise programs in your area for people with arthritis. Some hospitals, clinics and fitness centers offer special programs.

The Arthritis Foundation offers exercise programs around the United States for people with arthritis. Contact your local branch for more information.