9 Responses to “Should Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Exercise, Part 2”
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I agree with you whole heartedly on this one Kelly, as you know I've had RA for 22 years so have lots of experience of trying to exercise with RA. Simply put, when my joints are inflamed it is impossible to exercise, a lot of the time the joint(s) are so inflamed they are fixed at an angle making them impossible to move one way or the other. My elbow locks so that I cannot straighten it or reach my head, my knee locks so that I can neither straigten it or fully bend it, can you imagine exercising with jonts like this (not to mention the pain involved!) I am however a strong advocate of excercise when we RAers are having a good day, excercise keeps our muscles strong and supports the joints so it is vital that we do what we can WHEN we can do it. The best exercise for me is swimming, pilates (even Yoga is too much!)gentle walking and carefuly planned gym 'workouts'. We have to be realistic about what we can do with RA and be kind to our bodies, it is incredibly frustrating but it does get easier with time!
My comments were too long for this little box. Wrote them in my blog at http://arthritisjourney.blogspot.com today.
Amen, sistah!
Caysea
I realize that I'm nowhere near the condition of a lot of RA patients. I have an exercise schedule of walking 30 minutes 4 days a week and I work out with weights 3 days a week. However there are days that I hurt too much to hit the gym so I don't. I don't worry about it, nor do I feel guilty about missing a day here and there.
My feeling on this is if you can exercise, you should. It will help you mentally and physically.
Great comments, guys.
AND THAT'S THE WAY IT IS…
Oh, and check out the next post about the New Way RA videos; someone is listening to us!
swimming is a good way to exercise if you can.
my mom actually recommended it to me
makes me feel like I can do anything
because for awhile my arm will do what i want it to! haha
and the hot tub is great to relax your joints and muscles if you have the same trouble getting in and out of a the bathtub
haha
i should read both parts and comments before I post 
oh well.
I know I am not the only person to have discovered swimming to be the most relieving form of exercise
I have tried unsuccessfully for years and years (seriously!) to explain to my doctors that the pain came BEFORE the weight!! Its the chicken and the egg question in an RA format – the only difference being that I find people are not willing to even consider that I AM telling the truth. Its like they look at me and think to themselves “yeah, right”. Well, you know what? I’m done!! If I have a day where a short walk in the store can be done rather than a scooter, then I will, but walking up and down the street is an experience in more bone jarring due to the unevenness of the pavement and actual fear of being too far away from home to make it back in the door. I’m tired of trying to explain myself to closed minded people. So, its all between me and God now. Because HE loves me in spite of what I look like on the outside…
Doreen, You are right – he does love you – and so do many others!
I, too, am tired of people acting like I’m not telling the truth too. God knows this RA is not my fault.