Benefits of Exercise and Physical Activity

Understanding Exercise and Physical Activity with Arthritis

If you have arthritis there are many benefits to increasing your level of activity. You cannot cause more damage to the joints by exercising.

Exercise causes the body to produce endorphins. These are the body’s own natural painkillers. Exercise can calm the mind and help improve sleep quality. It uses up calories and gives you energy. It improves muscle strength which can reduce pain and improves balance leading to reduced risks of falling.

The benefits of exercise are that it:

1. Helps decrease and manage pain

If we continue to move and exercise with arthritis, it is more likely that our pain levels will decrease or become more manageable. Many people find that moving in water really helps, especially if their joints are sore or inflamed. Bottom line, if we can find ways to move regularly without aggravation our joints, our pain levels will usually decrease over time.

You can watch our webinar ‘Understanding and Managing Pain’ here (opens YouTube).

2. Improves and maintains our strength

Strength can be improved at any age. Should an illness, surgery or injury occur, stronger muscles mean you will recover more quickly. Even a small increase in strength can reduce someone’s experience of joint pain. This is because the muscles around any joint act as a natural brace or support to our joints.

You can watch our webinar ‘Home Strength Exercises’ here (opens YouTube).

 3. Helps in everyday tasks and maintains independence

Increasing our activity levels will fundamentally improve our ability to live independently. For example, leg strength and balance can make using stairs, going to the shops or using the toilet easier. If you combine stamina, strength, flexibility and balance then you will have greater capacity for life and will be much less likely to sustain an injury.

You can watch our webinar Unlocking Exercise – Barriers and Benefits on YouTube, for more information.

4. Improves energy levels

Being more physically active will improve our energy levels by making us fitter. This will help us by giving us more stamina, decreasing tiredness and improving our concentration or mood. You can watch our webinar ‘The Effects of Mental Health – How to Manage It’ here (opens YouTube).

5. Helps with maintaining healthy weight 

In combination with a balanced diet, regular exercise can help in maintaining healthy that decreases the load on our joints making them less painful. Remember that one pound of fat lost equates to four pounds less load on our knees.

You can watch our webinar ‘Is there a role for diet in managing arthritis’ on our YouTube channel, here.

You can also watch all our past Webinar recording here, developed to help you better understand and self-manage arthritis.

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