Exercise with arthritis

[olwyndean]

I have severe arthritis in my knees which means I cannot knee, bend my knees very far, straighten my knees completely or run. Does anyone have any suggestions for exercises which will help me lose weight and tone up without leaving me in agony?

[Kathy13118]

I don't have any specific suggestions, but just one general suggestion. You can use google to see if there are any blogs or websites that address your particular situation. And a really good place is amazon.com. Put in the general search terms 'arthritis exercise' to search all that is there. What comes up are books and DVDs. There is really a lot there, and used, some items are very very inexpensive! Amazon included used items alongside the new.

[oldschool58]

I was having a terrible time getting up and down .. losing weight with diet ,, starting out with recumbent cycling and replacing my sodas, caffeine, mostly with flavored waters ... and I only feel it once in a great while now..... usually if I sit around too much or my water intake drops for a couple days ... I engaged a nutritionist and chat about every two weeks... so my diet is a factor as well ...

my arthritis came form years of abuse in sports and a couple knee surgeries... FYI.. my family only had a mild history of Arthritis .. and not RA that I could discover ... you wold need a doc to tell and explain the differences .. you may want to start there... so you don't do the wrong thing for the right reasons

[AndyHenry]

Physical Activities are very much important for a person suffering from knee pain. People who are victims of knee pain should always maintain an balanced weight. This can be made by following an healthy diet. Walking will help in strengthening your leg muscles and also it will help in reducing the weight, biking is also one of the exercise for knee pain.

[cyberbav]

I also have arthritis and to complicate matters even further, I tore the cartilage in my knee so have to have the torn off part removed and the degenerated part "roto rooted". Just because it's not complicated enough, I also have a back injury and most of the physical therapy recommended for knee hurts back.

That being said.... back to the knees. I find cycle helps both my back and knees. The physical therapist told me the motion helps "lubricate" the knees and I think the gentle rocking of the spine sort of does the same thing.

I've put back on 50lbs after losing 185lbs and boy do I feel it everywhere... and the knees are the worst. It's such a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation where you need to lose weight to help a problem yet the problem makes it difficult to lose weight!

FWIW, I have found Celebrex to be far superior to any other anti-inflamatory on the market and glucosime/chondroitin/MSM (sp?)definitely helps.

[Randi52]

Have you tried water aerobics? Your local "Y" usually has them. If you don't have enough money to join, ask them about the free or reduced price memberships for low-income people. They may even have sponsorships that will pay for your membership, or may allow you to just join the water aerobics group.

Also, go to YouTube and look for chair workouts. There are some good ones with bands that might help you.

Tai Chi is very good for those who can't bend their knees. The main rule in Tai Chi is that if your knees are hurting you are doing it wrong. It really helped me a lot, and it can be done sitting as well.