Exercise Helps Joint Pain
During my early 40s I went through a stressful patch in my life with over programming (driving kids everywhere), too many volunteer commitments, selling/buying house in a crazy unpredictable market, and moving to a new city. And so, amongst all of that I wasn’t taking care of myself all that well: I ate a lot of prepackaged convenience “vegan” foods, lived on caffeine, often skipped meals, wasn’t consistent with exercising, didn’t get enough sleep or even down time. I was about 8 pounds underweight (when I am stressed I don’t eat). So my health was at an all time low. On top of that I started having severe peri-menopausal symptoms: delayed cycles, hot flashes, extreme fatigue, urgency to pee, joint pain. Fun times.
Many of those symptoms were eased by slowing down, cutting out a few programs from the family schedule, making healthy meals at home, eating animal protein, and taking a compounded T4 hormone for my hypothyroid. But my joint pain remained. It wasn’t awful, just an achiness in my hands, feet, and knees, and sometimes in my low back. Especially in the mornings.
So I started exercising regularly, mainly Pilates on the equipment and barre. And after six months of consistent workouts I noticed I rarely had that joint pain anymore. And now several years later, I don’t have any joint pain and truthfully I feel the strongest I have ever felt.
All these years in the fitness industry I knew exercise helped ease arthritis pain and stiffness, but having that first hand experience felt amazing!
Exercise helps your joint pain by:
Strengthening the muscles around your joint, so the joint is better supported
Movement provides nutrients to the tendons and ligaments by producing and spreading synovial fluid to the joints so they glide smoother
Provides mobility in the joints, which eases that feeling of stiffness
Helps maintain strength in your bones, weight bearing exercise builds bone density
Expending more energy during the day helps you sleep better at night, better sleep means less inflammation
Being stronger makes daily tasks easier, hence giving you more energy to do other things
Helps you obtain a healthy body mass index (BMI), as extra weight on your body puts more stress on joints
Exercise helps balance your hormones, an imbalance of hormones can cause inflammation
The trick to starting is to ease into exercise. People with arthritis should have a medical evaluation before starting exercising.
Begin with range of motion exercises that promote stability and mobility in the body.
Resistance training 2-3x weekly is important for those with arthritis, start light and progress from there, always mindful of good form.
Moderate intensity aerobic exercise most days of the week helps with energy levels and increased health.
Things to Remember:
Keep impact low if you have arthritis and inflammation
Start with lighter loads, gradually progressing to increased intensity
Apply heat to relax your joints and muscles before you begin exercising
Increase warmup and cool down times to 10 minutes
Be mindful. Good alignment needed, or you might put stress on your joints
References
American College of Sports Medicine, Liguori, G., Feito, Y., Fountaine, C., & Roy, B. (Eds.). (2021). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (Eleventh edition). Wolters Kluwer.
Bartlett, S. (n.d.). Role of exercise in arthritis management. Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/patient-corner/disease-management/role-of-exercise-in-arthritis-management/
