Arthritis is characterized by joint inflammation, which results in pain and stiffness; this tends to worsen as you get older. Many treatments and therapies are available to help manage your condition and symptoms, and your doctor can help you determine which is best. You can also make lifestyle changes like adding yoga to your routine, which can improve the flexibility of your joints and potentially lessen your pain.
Weight Management
When you have a health condition that makes movement painful, you may be tempted to stop exercising. But being overweight adds more pressure on your joints, which can make arthritis pain worse. Yoga is a gentle form of exercise that can be practiced by people of varying fitness levels, making it a good choice for those who have been inactive for some time. Even if you cannot do certain poses or hold others for very long at first, you will still reap the benefits this practice can provide. Yoga exercises can help you get your weight under control and thereby relieve some of the stress on your joints.
Improve Strength and Flexibility
Your muscles, tendons and ligaments can become weak from disuse, which may lead to more pain from arthritis and even increase your chances of injury. Performing yoga will strengthen your muscles and connective tissues and relieve some of your pain. Yoga includes a good amount of stretching and will also increase your flexibility as well as enhance the range of motion of your joints. This will make your movements more fluid and help get rid of stiffness.
Additional Benefits
The slow movements and standing postures of a yoga practice can help improve your ability to balance, thereby helping prevent falls and ensuing injuries. Yoga can also strengthen your bones, relieving some of the pressure on your joints. Strong bones are less likely to break if you do fall. Yoga can improve your energy level as well and help ward off some of the fatigue that your arthritis pain may be causing.
Precautions
Check with your health care provider before you start doing yoga or any other form of exercise. Take a class from a licensed instructor, and tell him about your arthritis. Ease yourself into exercising if you have not done it for a while, and do not perform any movements that cause excessive or sharp pain. If your pain lasts for more than two hours or you notice an increase in the inflammation of your joints, seek medical attention.
