People suffering from arthritis experience swelling and pain in one or more joints. The pain and stiffness usually worsen with age. This is why people with arthritis are not advised to do strenuous activities. So can people with arthritis exercise?

What is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a disease that affects the joints. With arthritis, the joints will experience inflammation and damage. The inflammation causes pain when you use the affected joint, such as in the feet, hands, pelvis, knees, or lower back.

Can People with Arthritis Exercise?

Joint inflammation and stiffness cause pain that limits the activities of people with arthritis. However, that doesn't mean you should stop exercising. Exercise is still recommended for people with arthritis because it provides various benefits, including:

• Flexibility
• Muscle strength
• Cardiovascular fitness
• Muscle and joint endurance

When suffering from arthritis, exercise can reduce pain and stiffness. Exercise also increases the range of motion, strengthens muscles, and improves endurance.

Read More: A Closer Look at Rheumatoid Arthritis: Get to Know the Causes and Symptoms

Sports that Arthritis Patients Can Do

In general, three types of exercise are recommended for people with arthritis, including:

Range-of-motion exercise

Range-of-motion exercise is the best option to help improve joint flexibility and strength and strengthen bones. Some recommended types of exercise with a good range of motion include walking, cycling, yoga, pilates, swimming, or other water sports.

Exercise that builds muscle strength

Exercises that train muscle strength can be very beneficial for arthritis sufferers to strengthen muscles and stabilize painful joints. Here are some types of exercise that can help train muscle strength for arthritis sufferers:

• Weight training including weight lifting and resistance training, such as resistance band exercises can help build muscle strength. You can start by using light weights or using your body weight.
• Yoga can train muscle strength and improve flexibility. Some yoga moves, such as tree pose and hamstring stretches can help strengthen the muscles of the legs and back.
• Pilates is designed as a muscle-toning exercise that aims to increase core muscle strength and improve flexibility.
• Swimming is a sport that exercises muscle strength and provides support to the body so that the load on the joints is reduced. You should choose a swimming style that is comfortable for your body.
• Water weight lifting involves moving through water to lift water weights, such as lifting buckets of water in a swimming pool. This can help increase muscle strength and reduce the load on the joints.

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise can help strengthen the heart and lungs and aid weight loss, which is important for the health of people with arthritis. However, as arthritis can affect the joints and limit mobility, it is important to choose low-impact aerobic exercise for the joints.

Recommended types of low-impact aerobic exercise include walking, cycling, aqua aerobics, swimming, and dancing.

Sports that Arthritis Patients Should Avoid

In order not to increase the risk of injury and strain on the joints, it is recommended that you avoid high-impact sports and sports with repetitive movements such as the following:

• Running
• Jumping rope
• Tennis
• High impact aerobics
• Badminton
• Basketball

Arthritis is a type of disease that cannot be cured. With the right treatment and care, you can manage the symptoms of pain and inflammation so that they do not worsen. If you need medical advice or consultation, you can either visit a doctor or make use of the consultation features that are available in the Ai Care application by downloading the Ai Care application from the App Store or Play Store.

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