The Right Exercise For Coping With Arthritis

Arthritis can be debilitating for many of its victims. However, as painful as it may be in the beginning, exercise can help you overcome many of the effects that arthritis inflicts. If you maintain a healthy exercise schedule, you can see benefits including the easing of stiff joints and weight loss. Weight loss is a natural way to ease the strain put on your joints and therefore helps with the side effects of arthritis. Every person is unique, and not all exercises will provide the same results. Try each of the following to see which work best for you.

Walking is the easiest exercise for people with arthritis to engage in. Each of us has to walk at least a bit in some form or another in our every day lives. There are a hundred ways to engage in walking passively. You can park farther away from a store you are visiting, or you can visit your local mall and people watch as you explore. By beginning with walking you can lower your weight and engage in low impact exercise that will strengthen muscle without straining your joints.

Tai Chi is a very low impact exercise. If you have ever been to a local park in the early morning, you probably have seen a group of people engaging in what appeared to be a sort of stretching martial art. That is Tai Chi. Getting involved in this type of exercise will allow you to meet new people, and since it is primarily done in the early morning, it will give your metabolism a boost throughout the day. Visit your local city website for information on groups meeting near you.

If you live in an urban area, you might consider biking as a means of transportation. Aside from being an incredible aerobic exercise, biking is low impact and works the knee joint in much the same way a physical therapist would. If you have knee pain, you should consider biking as a recreation or functional activity in your every day life.

Once you have gained some strength, a natural progression for you could be Yoga. Yoga is a stretching sport that increases flexibility and works the joints in a low impact manner. There are various levels you can work at, and almost every gym and YMCA offers these classes for a low cost. Begin this exercise with an instructor to help glean information that would be pertinent to your workout as an arthritis sufferer.

If you have access to a community or private swimming pool, you should definitely engage in water exercises. These exercises combine the best aspects of resistance training with low impact exercises. Give these activities a few weeks and you will begin to see benefits to your health.

By engaging regularly in exercise, you may experience less severe arthritis pain and you may experience this pain less frequently. Exercise not only decreases the pain you will experience from arthritis, but it has been clinically shown to act as a mood elevator and to have countless benefits to your overall health. As with any exercise program, it is important to consult your doctor before beginning any of these regimens. It is almost a sure thing that your doctor will encourage you to begin immediately.