People who suffer from arthritis have a hard time enjoying their favorite activities without experiencing pain. This chronic condition involves the inflammation of a person’s joints, which can make most physical activities seem impossible.
Exercise is crucial to eliminating arthritis pain, and a workout plan is essential when it comes to easing joint pain. These reasons to exercise will improve your arthritis and get you moving!
1. Improve The Mobility Of Your Joints
A light practice of Tai Chi—a type of martial arts that coordinates movements and breathing—can greatly impact a person’s agonizing arthritis symptoms. This form of exercise can increase the mobility of your joints and ease the pain, making it a good option for those looking for a low-impact way to work out!
2. Decrease Overall Joint Pain
Swimming is an easy aerobic exercise that can relieve the pressure on your joints with simple movements through the water. Walking from one side of the pool to the other at a brisk pace can help soothe your joints and reduce pain!
The next workout can loosen up your joints with ease!
3. Relieve The Stiffness Of Your Joints
Arthritis can cause the joints to feel heavy and stiff, and this can cause pain and discomfort. Practicing range-of-motions exercises—such as rolling your shoulders from front to back or lifting your arms over your head–can relieve your joints of stiffness and give them more mobility.
Practice these simple exercises daily to benefit from the results!
4. Lessen The Pain In Your Fingers And Hands
Individuals that suffer from arthritis can be especially sensitive to pain in their fingers and hands, and a simple daily exercise can help to relieve this pain. Spreading your fingers completely and then making a fist is an effective exercise to ease the pain of those joints, and you can repeat this motion to find relief in these painful areas!
5. Cultivate Happiness While Burning Calories
Tending to a garden is a great way to improve your cardiovascular health without putting too much stress on your joints. Gardening can increase the release of endorphins in your brain, which can make you happier and thus healthier!
Those who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to experience depression, so keeping a garden can be extremely beneficial!
6. Build Strength In Your Bones
Walking is a great aerobic exercise for anyone to do, and it can be beneficial for those with arthritis to get up and get moving—even for just a few minutes. Taking a light to brisk walk every day for up to 30 minutes can build your energy and improve your cardiovascular health, which in turn will decrease inflammation!
The following exercise will grant you good joint support!
7. Strengthen Your Arm Muscles
Your muscles give your joints support, highlighting the importance of building muscle strength for better joint health. Light weight training with small barbells can help you to build the strength in your arms. You can also practice push-ups or planks, but make sure to rotate muscle groups each day you workout to give your muscles a rest!
8. Gain Strength In Your Hips And Knees
Riding a bicycle is not off limits when you suffer from joint pain, and it can actually be beneficial. Cycling is a low-aerobic exercise that gets your heart pumping while strengthening your hips and knees. Start slow and at intervals of 10 minutes if you are new to cycling, and increase your time riding as you build your stamina.
9. Give Your Entire Body A Boost
Golf is a sport that many enjoy, and arthritis doesn’t have to hold you back from swinging a club. Enjoy a round or two of golf which can strengthen your hips, arms, legs, and spine. Golf can also increase the mobility of your joints, so go ahead and enjoy a day on the green!
10. Enhance Your Cardiovascular Health
Suffering from arthritis does not mean that jogging is off limits. If you are a seasoned runner, feel free to hit the track. Jogging can improve your heart health while strengthening your muscles, which is vital to combat joint pain.
Don’t forget to stretch before and after to avoid any injury.
11. Stretch Your Limbs Nightly To Avoid Morning Pain
Doing some simple stretches of your legs and arms before going to bed can do wonders for your body in the morning. Stretching before sleep can ease joint stiffness the next day, which can allow you to experience less pain and enjoy more out of life.
The following workout will have your joints at ease!
12. Achieve Bodily Balance
Pilates has become a popular form of exercise in the wellness world, and those with arthritis can experience its benefits. This workout with help you stretch your muscles and increase your flexibility while clearing your mind. You can also learn how t0 control your body and avoid injury—which is essential for those with weaker joints!
13. Build Your Leg Muscles
Strengthening your leg muscles can help relieve the pressure on your joints and allow you to live a more active lifestyle overall. You can build the muscles of your legs by simply sitting in a chair and standing up, and repeat this 10-15 times to really get the full effect.
The next exercise can greatly impact your arthritis symptoms!
14. Reduce Swollen, Aching Joints
Yoga has been praised as a low-impact exercise that offers physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. This form of exercise can be especially helpful to those with arthritis, and gentle stretches can ease inflammation of the joints.
Enjoy a simple yoga sequence to ease an arthritic flare up, and even a few bends from side to side will do!
15. Prevent Injury To The Joints
Incorporating some strength training into your daily routine can help you prevent injuries to your joints. Strengthening your muscles by lifting small weights or using a resistance band helps you protect your joints and reduce inflammation.
Strength training reduces stress on your joints while working to protect them—which is a win-win!
