Osteoarthritis is a crippling disease that eats away at your joints. Having this condition in your knees can make life miserable. Still, there are ways to make the most of your condition, and to not allow it to hamper your life any more than necessary. This article will give you a few steps on exercise with osteoarthritis of the knees.
Instructions
Exercising with Osteoarthritis of the Knees
1. Exercise is critical to remaining active. The last twenty years has seen a radical shift in orthopedics. Whereas before they urged rest and inactivity, research has proven that the exact opposite has proven more beneficial for a longer time. Keeping your knee joints limber will require that you use them. So take your pain reliever of choice, and get ready to exercise those knees.
2. Stretch your joints and tendons before you actually begin the exercises. There are dozens of available stretches that you can research online, or in books and magazines. But be sure and take ten minutes to warm up your muscles and loosen the stiffness that has settled into your arthritic knees.
3. Begin your exercise of choice. It is important to choose an exercise that will use the joint but NOT abuse it. Jogging, aerobics, karate, soccer, and other high impact sports that require lots of knee activity are just out of the question, unless you want to aggravate your already diseased joints - and perhaps injure them. Instead, choose an exercise such as swimming, water aerobics, stationary biking, elliptical, and other low impact choices that still use the knees and exercise the body and heart - but do not overload the damaged joints.
4. Pay attention to your knees. Aching and even some mild pain are to be expected. As the exercise enters the ten to twenty minute timeframe, the knees should be loosened up and the pain should be minimal. If at anytime pain intensifies or increases, you need to back off whatever you are doing and either modify it until the pain subsides or stop it altogether. Do NOT push through an intense pain in your workout. Intense pain means something is wrong.
5. After you have done the vigorous part of your workout, you must cool your muscles down to avoid cramping and additional stiffness that may settle into your knees. Take at least a five to ten minute cool down, and then follow your workout with a hot shower, followed by ice packs on the knees. Make sure that you exercise your knee joints three to five times a week for optimal usability.
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