Managing Arthritis Pain with Exercise

In the most general terms, arthritis is joint pain caused by inflamed or worn-down connective tissue. But not all arthritis is the same. The different types have different causes and treatment options, so before jumping into an arthritis exercise regime, it’s important to know if exercise is the right fit for your specific condition. Always talk to your doctor or pharmacist first, otherwise you might end up further aggravating your condition. Read more about the causes and kinds of arthritis here.

Here’s the unfortunate news: While exercise can help mitigate the pain caused by arthritis in the long term, exercise can cause more arthritis pain in the short term. Because of this, a doctor or pharmacist might prescribe you an anti-inflammatory or recommend a mild pain killer to help overcome that initial roadblock that keeps you from being active. Applying ice or heat to an enflamed area after exercising can also help to mitigate pain when starting out. Whether or not medication can be removed from the equation completely is going to be a unique question for every individual and their healthcare team. In most cases, a combination of medication and exercise will produce the best results over the long term.

It’s important to start slowly. Don’t push yourself too hard, too early, or you’ll only end up in more pain and possibly injure yourself in the process. If you’re starting from little-to-no physical activity, start by exercising for 10 minutes, twice a day, and increase gradually in duration and intensity from there.

Your body will have strong days, when you can accomplish more, and weaker days, when you can’t do as much. While it’s important to gradually increase your level of activity, it doesn’t have to increase every day. Some days your level of activity will decrease, and that’s fine, as long as you are generally trending upward over the long term. A good goal for older adults is to aim for at lest 30 minutes of activity, five days a week.

For optimal health, you’ll want to find an activity, or combination of activities that hits each major category

• Aerobic exercise to strengthen your heart and lungs.
• Strength exercise to reduce the burden arthritis places on your bones, muscles, and joints.
• And flexibility exercise to improve range of motion, prevent stiffness, and help avoid injury.

A physiotherapist can provide recommendations to help you target your unique pain points and help you develop an optimal workout routine.