Those of us who suffer from arthritis, or from an autoimmune disease affecting the neuromuscular skeletal system, live with chronic, unremitting pain. When arthritis strikes a weight-bearing joint such as the knee or hip, the pain is accompanied by stiffness and impaired function. There are many therapies, short of joint replacements, that work well for arthritic joints, and help with the muscle spasms and tightness resulting from fibromyalgia, as well as the inflammation and stiffness coming from compensating for the impaired joint. One of the primary therapies is exercise. It's also one of the hardest to do; why is it so hard to exercise your knees when you suffer from arthritis?
The Condition of Your Joints
The answer to why it's hard to exercise when you have arthritis It hurts because when arthritis attacks your knees, you lose cartilage and develop bone spurs. Cartilage cushions the joint as you move, and when there is less cartilage, or, worst case, no cartilage, bone begins scraping on bone; this results in hardening of the remaining (if any) cartilage, and the development of the aforesaid bone spurs. The bone spurs can cause the bones to lock together when you try to move, causing significant pain until the lock breaks loose.
It also hurts because your muscles try to compensate for the dysfunction in your joint, and they become inflamed as a result. Inflammation, swelling, and tenderness around your knees is not the arthritis, but collateral damage to your muscles and tendons as they work overtime to keep you moving.
The Benefits of Exercise
Although it's hard to do, exercising your arthritic joints is one of the best ways to keep them functioning without undue loss of mobility. Strengthening your muscles and tendons around the knee allows them to stabilize the joint without overworking them. Flexing the joint, even when there is no cartilage present, keeps the joint fluid, and can prevent the joint from stiffening up when unused for a period of time. There are specific exercises for the knee, geared to keeping it flexible. You can learn these exercises from your physician, your physical therapist, from your exercise-fiend friends and relatives, or you can find them on the Internet.
Other Therapies
There are other things you can do to treat your arthritis without resorting to drugs. The first thing is to change your lifestyle. If you're actually an exercise enthusiast, who's run every day since your teen years, you're going to have to change this mode of exercise. When you develop arthritis in the knees or hips, running and jumping exercises do more harm than good; they cause stress on the weight-bearing joints, and increase your pain level. Switch from running to cycling, and from jumping to swimming.If you're overweight, lose the extra pounds. Extra weight means extra stress on your joints, and even a small weight loss can result in big relief.
Support devices, such as canes, can help if you are in severe pain and your joints are experiencing significant loss of mobility. Braces have been shown to reduce pain and stress on your knees, and are an inexpensive way to lower your pain while increasing your movements.
Over-the-counter medication is available for pain relief, in the short term. OTC non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs all have nasty side effects, so use them wisely, and always inform your physician and pharmacist about their use, as they may interact in unhappy ways with your prescription medications.
Alternative therapies, such as glucosamine sulfate, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), along with herbal therapies, have shown empirical evidence of reducing pain and repairing damage from osteoarthritis. Magnetic therapy has been used in mainstream sports medicine for quite a while, and it has proven successful in treating arthritis as well.
The Condition of Your Joints
The answer to why it's hard to exercise when you have arthritis It hurts because when arthritis attacks your knees, you lose cartilage and develop bone spurs. Cartilage cushions the joint as you move, and when there is less cartilage, or, worst case, no cartilage, bone begins scraping on bone; this results in hardening of the remaining (if any) cartilage, and the development of the aforesaid bone spurs. The bone spurs can cause the bones to lock together when you try to move, causing significant pain until the lock breaks loose.
It also hurts because your muscles try to compensate for the dysfunction in your joint, and they become inflamed as a result. Inflammation, swelling, and tenderness around your knees is not the arthritis, but collateral damage to your muscles and tendons as they work overtime to keep you moving.
The Benefits of Exercise
Although it's hard to do, exercising your arthritic joints is one of the best ways to keep them functioning without undue loss of mobility. Strengthening your muscles and tendons around the knee allows them to stabilize the joint without overworking them. Flexing the joint, even when there is no cartilage present, keeps the joint fluid, and can prevent the joint from stiffening up when unused for a period of time. There are specific exercises for the knee, geared to keeping it flexible. You can learn these exercises from your physician, your physical therapist, from your exercise-fiend friends and relatives, or you can find them on the Internet.
Other Therapies
There are other things you can do to treat your arthritis without resorting to drugs. The first thing is to change your lifestyle. If you're actually an exercise enthusiast, who's run every day since your teen years, you're going to have to change this mode of exercise. When you develop arthritis in the knees or hips, running and jumping exercises do more harm than good; they cause stress on the weight-bearing joints, and increase your pain level. Switch from running to cycling, and from jumping to swimming.If you're overweight, lose the extra pounds. Extra weight means extra stress on your joints, and even a small weight loss can result in big relief.
Support devices, such as canes, can help if you are in severe pain and your joints are experiencing significant loss of mobility. Braces have been shown to reduce pain and stress on your knees, and are an inexpensive way to lower your pain while increasing your movements.
Over-the-counter medication is available for pain relief, in the short term. OTC non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs all have nasty side effects, so use them wisely, and always inform your physician and pharmacist about their use, as they may interact in unhappy ways with your prescription medications.
Alternative therapies, such as glucosamine sulfate, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), along with herbal therapies, have shown empirical evidence of reducing pain and repairing damage from osteoarthritis. Magnetic therapy has been used in mainstream sports medicine for quite a while, and it has proven successful in treating arthritis as well.
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