Arthritis Strengthening Exercises

Arthritis Strengthening Exercises-
Beat Arthritis By Increasing Your "Joint Support Team"

What? My Joint Support Team? I thought it was my joints and bones that supported the rest of my body. What is my joint support team?

Well, your "joint support team" are all the body parts that can help reduce the stress and pressure your joints usually handle. Particularly, your muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

If you focus on increasing the strength of your muscles, tendons, and ligaments, they will actually take over a lot of the work that your joints currently do.

Imagine your joints as the framework for a house. Now usually, the frame on the house holds up most of the weight of the house. But, what if you could insulate that frame with very strong walls made of metal, and these metal walls were set into the foundation of the home itself. This would greatly relieve the amount of weight and stress the frame would have to support, because the walls themselves would be holding much of the weight.

This is what strong muscles can do for someone with arthritis. The muscles can get strong and help support much of the body that the joints usually support. So, to help beat arthritis, you need to increase the strength of your "joint support team".

There are 2 primary types of strength exercise for arthritis sufferers: Isometric and Isotonic exercise.

Isometric exercise is popular with those who have arthritis, because it allows you to strengthen your muscles without moving your joints. For example, sit up straight, and flex your stomach muscles. Hold it for 5 seconds....this is an isometric exercise. You can apply this to every major muscle group in your body.

Isotonic strength exercise is the more traditional "movement based" exercise. Your joints move, your limbs move, your body moves.

So here are a few specific exercises that you can do to increase the strength of your joint support team:

Chest and Torso Exercises:

Sit down with your back straight. Press your palms together with your hands in front of you. You should feel the muscles in your shoulder and your chest tense up. Hold for 5 seconds, and repeat 3 - 5 times.

For your stomach muscles, sit down in a chair with your lower back touching the back of the chair. Press one hand on your stomach. Inhale, and then flex and hold your stomach muscles for 5 - 7 seconds while you exhale.

Leg Exercises:

Sitting Leg Extensions are a great way to increase leg strength, and they are easy. Just sit down in a chair, with your feet flat on the ground and your arms relaxed at your side. Lift one leg up and extend it out, but be careful not to lock your knee joint. Slowly lower it to the ground, repeat with the other leg. 8 - 10 repetitions with each leg is sufficient for this exercise

Also, you can do knee lifts. Stay sitting in a chair, with your arms hanging at your side. Then, while keeping good posture, raise your knee up toward your chest. Keep your hands at your sides, and let your stomach muscles help maintain your balance. Lower your knee slowly, and repeat with the other leg. 8 - 10 repetitions is usually sufficient for this type of exercise.

Here are some additional exercises you can do:

For videos on these and other exercises, visit the UW Orthopedic Medicine site