Day to day living

Post your Osteoarthritis related questions for our experts here.

Moderator: talkhealth

Locked
2 posts
User avatar
Arthritis Action
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:27 pm
Quote

by Arthritis Action on Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:03 am

Re: Day to day living

Many people with arthritis worry that if they exercise they may damage their joints. This is not true at all. Exercise can't harm the joints and can't make arthritis worse, but when you start exercising, it may make your joints feel temporarily more sore. The best way to start exercising is to find something you enjoy that will get your joints moving and just get started! Simple walking is excellent for the knees but start slowly with a low goal and gradually build up how much you do every day in small steps. Make sure you have comfortable shoes or trainers and if you need pain medicines, make sure you take these before you start exercising, especially if you are not used to it. Try walking up the stairs rather than using the lift, or try swimming or gentle cycling if putting weight through your joints hurts too much at first. Exercise classes such as Tai Chi can help improve your balance, get the joints moving and reduce pain, and exercising to music, for example Zumba can be fun and improve your fitness at the same time. Essentially anything that gets the joints moving will help reduce pain and stiffness if you keep trying. Getting to a healthy weight can help a lot with pain too. See the Arthritis Action website for more tips.

Wendy

Dr Wendy Holden
Medical Advisor to Arthritis Action and Consultant Rheumatologist

Arthritis Action
56 Buckingham Gate London SW1E 6AE
020 3781 7120
http://www.arthritisaction.org.uk

User avatar
Institute of Osteopathy
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:44 pm
Quote

by Institute of Osteopathy on Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:18 pm

Re: Day to day living

It is very common for people with arthritis to experience symptoms in their knees and ankles, so you are not alone in this. There is a common misconception that if you have arthritis, exercise is somehow bad for you. In reality, this could not be further from the truth. Research shows that becoming more physically active is extremely beneficial for those with arthritis. Strengthening the muscles in the front of the upper leg (the Quadriceps) has been proven to reduce the pain of knee arthritis in many people. Simple stretching exercises can help to improve the flexibility of the joints. Doing general exercises that helps to keep the heart and lungs healthy can reduce the progression of the condition in many cases and in some improve things considerable.

The charity Arthritis Action (http://www.arthritisaction.org.uk) provides a number of free, very easy to follow exercise factsheets that you might want to try to start off with. For those who need a little more support, most GPs will have an agreement with a local health centre (the scheme is usually called ‘Exercises on referral’) that will offer you access to subsidised personal trainer sessions to build your confidence.

For people with knee pain specifically, there is an exercises programme called ‘ESCAPE-Pain’ (http://www.escape-pain.org/) that has 12 years’ worth of high quality research supporting it. This programme has been proven to reduce pain, improve your ability to perform daily activities and help with some of the psychological symptoms of arthritis such as low mood. It also includes self-management education sessions to enable you to understand your condition and take control. You can even download a free App from the App store to allow you to try it out at home. I highly recommend it.

If you feel that you need support from a medical professional, manual therapy such as osteopathy has also been proven to help in many cases, especially for knee arthritis.

There are also more resources on the http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/fitness/Page ... shome.aspx website.

When beginning a new exercises programme, you should always start off easy and gradually progress as your ability and confidence improves. You might find it a little difficult at first, but if you persist you will see the benefit of keeping active.

Matthew Rogers
Head of Professional Development | Registered Osteopath

Locked
2 posts