When you suffer from arthritis, the last thing you want to do is workout and move your joints. They are oftentimes stiff, swollen, and cause you significant pain. However, exercising is important when it comes to maintaining your body and helping to lessen the pain you get from arthritis. It does not seem like this could happen since you are moving your aching joints more, which can cause inflammation, but you will find that the more you strengthen your muscles and promote blood flow, the better you will feel. Let’s look at a few ways to workout with arthritis to help with your pain and help you have a healthy body.
- Do Range Of Motion Workouts
A great workout that you can do is range of motion workout routines. This will help your joints move like they should and improve the range you can move. In fact, arthritis pain will lessen the more often you practice the range of motion exercises. It is best to ask a doctor about specific exercises to ensure you protect your body. However, you can do simple ones to such as lifting your arms above your head, practicing rolling your shoulders, and moving your neck in a slow, gentle sweeping motion to the left and right.Â
- Focus On Strengthening Your Muscles
One of the most important elements in helping relieve pain with arthritis is to strengthen your muscles. This gives your body the ability to support joints easier, which will not put as much pressure on them throughout the day. The best way to strengthen your muscles is to do weight training either at home or the gym.When you workout with arthritis, you should make sure the weight training you do is gentle, slightly easy (not too easy as you want to build muscle), and you should do the workouts every other day. If your joints are particularly painful, then you will need to take an extra day off.Â
- Doing Simple Things Such As Yoga Or Tai Chi
It is vital to move gently when you workout with arthritis, which means that things such as yoga or tai chi are excellent for you. Both of these workouts are excellent because they focus on connecting your whole body together through breathing while having you slowly and gently move into the various positions. You can find several classes in your area that can help you workout with arthritis.
Tips On How To Workout With Arthritis
The above ideas for workouts to do when you have arthritis can be quite helpful, but there are a few key things you should always remember. Let’s look at three tips on how to workout with arthritis in the best way to ensure you get the benefits you want and need.Â
- Go Slowly And Gently
As we have said several times throughout the post, always make sure you are going slowly with your routines as well as being gentle. It is possible you will hurt yourself if you go too quickly with your workouts, and jarring exercises such as jogging will hurt your joints more. If you would like to do aerobic exercises, you can ride a stationary bike or an actual bike, swim, or walk.Â
- Apply Heat At The Beginning And Ice After
Before every workout, people have to make sure their joints and muscles are warmed up. However, when you workout with arthritis, you will find that even simple stretches might be a little too much in the beginning. Because of this, many suggest using a heating pad before you start your warm up stretches to help your muscles and joints relax. Once you have finished your routine, do your typical cool down stretches and then ice your joints. Pay particular attention to any joints that are currently hurting, or ones that you know give you trouble. This will help reduce inflammation or swelling that working out may cause.
- Wear Orthotic Insoles Or Shoes
When you workout with arthritis, another major help will be to wear orthotic insoles or shoes. You can choose which type you will want or you can talk to your doctor to see what he or she recommends. You will find that orthotic devices such as walking shoes will help lessen the impact you receive when working out.Â
In Closing
The Orthotic Shop provides you with a great selection of orthotic insoles and athletic shoes when you workout with arthritis. Take a look around our shop to find something that is perfect for you! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.