I have arthritis in my knees and spine. Due to the damage to my spine, a lot of movements are difficult for me. Walking is one thing I am seeing in a lot of these answers. I make it a point to walk 20-30 minutes a day, every day. I add in some strength training with SMALL weights (no more than 3 lbs) 4-5 days a week. I stay away from anything high-impact.

Should I reconsider my walking program?
 

I just noticed this thread on OA of the knees and I thought I'll post my query here instead of starting a new thread on the same topic.

I've been having Osteo-Arthritis of my left knee at its earliest stages, which I understood to be so because it only pained last year when I tried to jog up and down the stairs -- other than that, it has been pain free.

Now, for the past 2 1/2 months, I am in a walking program for weight loss. I started slow but recently increased my walking speed to 3.5 mph which I walk for 45 min to cover a 2.5 mile distance. Suddenly, today upon completion of my walking, I got mild Arthritic pain on my left knee which completely freaked me out because I've incorporated walking successfully as my main form of exercise and I have 50+ pounds to lose.

So should I continue walking as usual from tomorrow or should I reconsider the walking program? I welcome suggestions. Thanks.

Hi all: I have OA from car accidents when I was younger and Fitness/sport overuse as well - don't even ask, lol. Anyhow, I find that I get the best workout in the water - you get resistance - as much as you wish to handle - but you negate the effect of gravity - which is huge when we are larger persons. You don't have to get your head in the water, and I realize that not everyone is comfortable with the swimsuit or the shorts, bra, & Tshirt combo. It does work great though. Rehab post joint replacement, injury retraining or just getting fitter without hurting your joints. The water supports your weight and also cools you, and assists with range of motion as well.
I can't lift weights anymore because of my hands and other joints BUT I can do a muscle strengthening program in the water since I don't have to firmly grip something to work hard against the water's resistance.
Try to get to an arthritis in the water program - talk to your local pool operator and if you are really shy - sometimes hotels will open the pool to you for a small fee to do your water walking/running in private. There are good books out there as well as video to give you some ideas if you are doing it yourself. Try to take a couple classes with a certified trained aquatic arthritis fitness professional first to give you an idea of the exercises that might help your particular situation.

Liana :swim:

no more classes
 

I was taking the water aerobics classes in the evening then they cancelled them because there weren't enough students. There were only about 5-8 REGULARS during the past few years. Some of the members cancelled their membership because they really just wanted to water aerobics. I had started doing strength training so I wasnt going to cancel my membership. Then I found out I could still go in the pool at the same time and just workout by myself. I love it. I learned enough to workout for an hour by myself. The other day I went on youtubeto find more exercises.

I will say this my knees are very bad and need to be replaced so I workout in the deep end so I'm not jumping up and down touching the floor.. I will say this a lot of kicking and bending the knees WILL CAUSE PAIN if your knees are as bad as mine.

Too bad there aren't many aquafitters in your area! Some of our classes are so full, it is hard to get enough room to really push the water. You may have to concentrate more on x-country ski, scissors, & jacks in the deep end if the constant knee bending gets to you... Also don't forget you can up your heart rate and effort using your arms, too. If you focus on really pushing through the water with them - or if your wrists are OK, you can use webbed gloves or small floater dumbbells for more resistance, or raise your arms above your shoulder level while you cycle, ski, etc. kind of like this position: :cp:

You can also do 'washing machine' core twist & lifts holding slightly bent legs BUT remember the longer the lever the more force is exerted so watch your back muscles for that one.

Good for you on keeping it up tho! Maybe you can start a resurgence at your pool!

Liana

Have any of you ever heard of Oxycise? It is an exercise you do while doing deep breathing and stretching. It is very easy to do. When I first started to do Oxycise, I thought there is no way this can do any good, it's too easy and doesn't hurt at all. But, to my surprise, I actually started losing inches and my clothes became loose. You can find the DVDs at http://www.oxycise.com

My mom have knee and back problem, and swimming does help her, also exercises with body weight, she have online personal trainer web site insha.pe (workout via web cam). It is very immportant to strengthen back muscles all the time

your quote was just the reminder I needed.
thks,mrs jazzy

I have arthritis in my back and hips. I use the treadmill, it still hurts a little, but I am afraid to quit or i won't be able to do anything. I also power walk outside with hubby. I quit running as that wasn't doing much for my joints

Arthritic and over 250?
 

:carrot: I love pool exercises but it's really humiliating to be out there in front of everyone with my stretch marked flabby legs (plus I have psoriasis too so yuk right?). Walking is good but my joints kill me after. I work the floor as a nurse and that seems to finish me off for the day most of the time. My friend and I will go to the gym after work (we have one in the hospital) and do the stationary bike thing and other none impact stuff. We are usually the only ones there. Just go out of your way to move as much as you can. I don't like to call it exercise, too intimidating, I call it "deliberate movement." good luck!

I felt the same way because my legs look horrible. I wear swim shorts with my suit and it's just fine. When we stil had our aqua class the instructor wore long sleeve tops and long legging the whole time. We NEVER saw her legs or arms and some of the gear was very cute. She was small and very flexible she use to take piliates and them come teach a class she had alot of energy I wish I had some of it.

LOOK ONLINE at some of the swim sites. I got my suit and shorts from swim and sweat. I like them because the suits are chlorine resistant so they last longer.


:mad: The bad news. I'VE STOPPED exercise because I just hurt to much. I have a torn rotary cuff and I'm having surgery next week. I really wanted to get my knee replaced this fall but my surgeon said I have to have the shoulder done first because I'll need the strength for using a walker when I have my knee done:mad: so now I'm looking at another year before it gets done. I took a walk around my block today and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. Lots of uneven pavement and hills. My hip started to hurt. SMH but I made it home. I was only gone about 15 minutes. Oh well I do intend to get back in the water at some point because I've completely slacked off and have gained weight.

I had my ankle replaced because of OA. Best decision ever.

However, a few things I learnt before my last surgery, walking with nordic walking sticks made the walk MUCH easier on my ankle and also increases the calorie burn by 40%. It's win win, just make sure to get two, and buy them in a shop so they are the right height. Love those things, still use them now when I hike, even though I now walk pain-free.

Swimming as mentioned rocks.

I also used a water belt and did running sessions in the deep end so my foot never touched the ground.

I found that cycling was the easiest and most pain free way to move. I loved the freedom that getting on my bike gave me. When I was on lots of pain meds, had to always use a walking stick and rocker sole shoes and could hardly walk 200m I could get on my bike and ride slowly for even up to 40 miles sometimes. It was amazing. I highly recommend giving it a try.

In terms of strengthening, I found a person who does a combination of Active Release Therapy (ART) and pilates. Most amazing thing ever. I highly recommend ART as when you don't go through the correct range of motion the biomechanics don't work properly and some muscles/tendons/fascia get so tight that they end up causing more problems and pain. The ART releases them like nothing else I've found, and then the pilates helps to stabilise everything correctly. I did pilates 1 on 1 as I needed lots modified to things I could do, but also to what I needed to improve.

Anyway, best of luck to all of you! Sorry that was so long!

I would have to wear capri-type swimming pants to feel comfortable in front of people. never try to walk as exercise or do any type of impact exercise with messed up knees. I finally got an MRI to find out what was wrong with my knee after assuming I was just fat and my arthritis was bad for almost a year. I found out I had a torn meniscus and had to have surgery, I can't believe I worked on my feet suffering for a year before I did something.

Valmorel: Wonderful ideas (speaking as an ex physio rehab professional with OA myself) - lots of options for those with arthritis. I use all the same exercises you do :D

ART is excellent! We can be so concentrated on the pain that it is hard to work through the correct range of motion and the shorter the range, the worse it gets, of course. Also Feldenkrais works well for gentle retraining of movement patterns and pain reduction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldenkrais_Method
We used it a fair bit with clients with acquired brain injuries and accompanying physical movement issues due to soft tissue injuries (mainly car accidents and workplace accidents). I use it for my own OA to help keep myself out of degenerative movement patterns.

Liana

psoriatic arthritis