How to exercise safely with arthritis

If exercise seems intimidating, even frightening, it's time for a change of attitude. When you look closely, you'll discover that stretches, exercises and massages are simple, gentle and natural — perfect for people with arthritis! So give them a try.

• Discover a broad range of stretches, strengthening moves and massages, most of them quite unlike what you would find in more general fitness articles.
• The differences? First, they are gentler and more natural movements.
• Second, they are as beneficial for joints as they are effective in building muscle.
• Maybe you already do simple range-of-motion exercises or take strolls around your neighbourhood fairly regularly.
• That puts you ahead of the game. What happens next is not a race, but a journey. There's nobody to beat and you don't have to push yourself too hard.
• Comfortable, week-by-week progress will move you toward your beginning goals.
• Then you'll be able to establish new goals that you could not even have imagined at the start.

• Exercises are the key to your success in fighting pain and getting fit. Not every exercise will be right for you, however. The last thing you need is an exercise program that causes more pain.
• But even after one or two workouts, you'll have a sense of whether you can handle more.
• If you're comfortable taking on harder exercises without causing significant discomfort, feel free to do more repetitions, stretch longer, choose more challenging movements or add time to your cardio workout.
• Once you get started with a program, you'll quickly become comfortable with the motions your exercises require.
• In many cases, it's possible for simple modifications to make the exercises you're doing more challenging as you get more fit, so you don't have to change a routine you already like.
• At the same time, if you want to move on to new exercises or add elements to your workout, you'll find options for doing so.

Everybody has good days and bad. But some bad days are worse than others. How should you change — not abandon — your exercise program in response to flare-ups of pain or the draggy torpor of fatigue? Score your responses to the following questions and adjust your program as suggested below.

How much pain do you have today?

NONE 0

VERY MILD 1

MILD 2

MODERATE 3

SEVERE 4

WORST 5

How much fatigue do you have today?

NONE 0

VERY MILD 1

MILD 2

MODERATE 3

SEVERE 4

WORST 5

Here's how to calculate your pain or fatigue scores.

0–2 Proceed as planned with your exercise program, gradually increasing intensity as improvements in your fitness and function allow.

3 Exercise at the same level as the previous session (without adding resistance or intensity), if you exercised within the past week.

4 Reduce the number of repetitions of strength exercises and aerobic time by 50 per cent.

5 It may be best not to do your regular exercise routine today. But try to do some simple, gentle body movements throughout the day, perhaps after taking a warm bath or shower.