Top 10 exercises for arthritis – Part I
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Loading ...Living with arthritis can be difficult if you are in pain. But as with everything else in life, practice makes living with arthritis simpler. The best way to achieve this is to exercise.
In this article, we will explore the top 10 exercises that will help arthritis pain. If you have never used the following exercises, my recommendation is that you start off with ten rounds per exercise and increase it gradually. Increasing exercises gradually will include ten rounds per day for five days followed by 15 rounds per day for another ten days and finally twenty rounds per day from there on.
It is commonly believed that most people suffering from arthritis experience pain in legs more than in anywhere else. Therefore, we will start off with exercises for feet.
Exercise 01
Relax your body and sit upright in a chair with your feet stretched out in front. Now start circling your right foot clock-wise for twenty consecutive times. Do the same with your left foot. Once you are done with clockwise movements, start circling your right foot anti-clockwise for 20 times followed by your left foot. As you gain practice with this exercise, you can try circling both feet at once; clockwise & anti-clockwise.
Exercise 02
This exercise will take care of your heels and toes. Sit forward on a chair with your feet flat. Relax yourself and start lifting your right heel while keeping the toes on the floor. Hold it down for 3 seconds before you change the position of the foot to face toes up and heel down. Repeat the same with your left foot. Repeat the exercise 20 times per foot and once you gain practice, an additional 20 times, moving both feet together. However, be careful not to sprain your ankles.
Exercise 03
This exercise will deal with your knees. Relax your body and sit on the edge of a chair or stool keeping your back upright. (It is better to sit on a chair/stool with arm rests incase; you tend to fall since you are seated at the edge) To start off the exercise, lift your knee as high as you can without bending your back. If needed, you can use your hands to assist the knee. Hold it for 3 seconds and lower your leg back to the starting position while keeping your abdominals tight.
Exercise 04
This exercise will deal with the ankles. Sit comfortably in a chair which has a good back support. Now slowly straighten your right knee. Next slightly bend the knee while bending the ankle. Do it in such way so that toes will point straight ahead. Hold it for three seconds before you reverse point the ankles to face the ceiling. Repeat the same exercise for 20 times for each leg.
Exercise 05
We now move in to hip and calf stretch. Simply stand with arm support against a wall and place one foot in front of the other to keep you supported. Make sure your feet are apart and are pointing forward. It is also important to make sure that your shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle are kept in a straight line. Now keep the shoulders and hips square and tighten the abdominal muscles. Next step is to move forward very slowly bending at the ankles while keeping weight on the heel of the back foot.
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