If you suffer from the joint pain and stiffness of arthritis, exercise is sometimes a daunting concept. However, various types of exercise improve your symptoms by promoting joint flexibility and muscle strength that supports affected joints. Exercise also relieves stress, often providing a more positive outlook on your personal situation.
Exercise in Water
Water provides an excellent exercise medium for resistance without impacting your sore arthritic joints, the Arthritis Foundation notes. The buoyancy of your body in water supports affected joints while promoting free movement. Simply walking through the water of a swimming pool protects your joints and mitigates pain while providing a workout with 12 times the resistance of walking on land through air, according to the foundation.
Range of Motion Exercise
Stretching exercises focusing on extension and movement reduce stiffness in arthritic joints and keep you flexible, according to University of Washington Medicine Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Turning your head slowly to the right, then to the left, as far as it will gently go is one type of range of motion exercise. Another requires sitting in a chair with your hands on your hips, then leaning to the right, back to center, then to the left, in several repetitions. UW Medicine recommends you perform such range of motion exercises three to 10 repetitions twice per day.
Strength Exercises
Moderate weight bearing and other resistance exercises strengthen arthritic joints and muscles, aiding your symptoms in the long run, according to the Arthritis Foundation. One such exercise, the "Superman Prone Trunk Raise," begins with you lying on your stomach with you arms straight back at your sides and hands lying with the tops flat to the floor. Keeping your buttocks and shoulders tight, lift your head and shoulders but keep your chest on the floor, hold the lifted position for a few seconds, then relax and repeat the move.
Exercises Targeting the Hands
MayoClinic.com recommends several basic and mild exercises specifically targeting strength building in the hands and fingers -- often affected by arthritis. Holding your hand up with fingers pointing up and together, then bending the fingers at the second joint up from the hand -- and then straightening the fingers again -- is one type of exercise repetition for arthritic hands and fingers. In another exercise, hold your hands with fingers pointing up and spread apart. Slowly close your hand into a loose fist with your thumb wrapped over your fingers; repeat this action several times.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic, also called cardiovascular, exercise in 30-minute sessions three or four times each week can bolster wellness of arthritis patients, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Such exercise involves movement of your largest muscles and increases blood flow and heart activity. This type of exercise also reduces stress, improving the way you feel. Low-impact cardiovascular exercises include walking and cycling.
