Exercising with Osteoarthritis: Your Guide to Safe and Effective Workouts

Exercising with osteoarthritis: recommended exercises 

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist 

So the research really shows that you can get equal benefits from a range of different exercises from strengthening exercises to aerobic exercise and so it's really important that the person chooses something that they enjoy that they're going to stick at and that can be done in conjunction with the therapist to decide what's going to be best for you.

Strength training & cardiovascular exercises

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist 

The exercise that is recommended for people with osteoarthritis includes a  combination of strengthening exercises to  strengthen up the muscles around the joint,  aerobic exercise to improve fitness such as  walking or cycling or water exercise and it  also includes a range of motion exercises  with those other two forms.

Lucinda Moody, exercise professional

People with osteoarthritis should definitely find some time to do some strength training two to three sessions a week is ideal, obviously under the guidance of a physiotherapist  or qualified exercise professional. We also encourage cardiovascular exercise or aerobic exercise which slightly elevates your heart rate makes you puff a little but to the point  where you can still have a conversation  especially when you're first starting out.

Water exercises

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist 

The research shows that water exercise can be very beneficial for pain and function and it's  particularly good for people who perhaps have got more severe disease or they're overweight  and they want to start a program in the water  because the buoyancy of the water is very good  because it reduces load on the joints the warmth  of the water can really help reduce pain and  muscle spasm so often times a water based exercise  program can be a really good way to start before  you progress to land-based exercise.

Lucinda Moody, exercise professional

Warm water exercise is a fabulous way to get the joints mobile and take the impact off your joints, it’s a lovely way to feel social connectedness in an aquatic environment so if you do have access to a pool what a wonderful way to get started.

Tai Chi

Lucinda Moody, exercise professional

In addition to strength training, cardiovascular and warm water exercise, flexibility and the ability to move the joint through an appropriate range of movement is beneficial. So, stretching, yoga type Tai Chi activities, balance to keep  your joint stable going to be also beneficial  exercises for you.

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist 

There has been some research about Tai Chi which is very popular for people, and it shows that there can be some benefits in terms of paying and improving physical function and obviously the group atmosphere you can really be important as well.

Exercises to avoid

Lucinda Moody, exercise professional

With osteoarthritis we would like to encourage exercise wherever possible but there are a few things to keep in mind that may impact further and cause additional pain in your condition. So, anything high impact like a big jump or you know landing with really heavy weights in your hands would not be advisable especially in that early stage of exercise and getting started. Things like running even would be too much probably at the start of a new program so just making sure that your exercise is appropriate, and we can still do vigorous exercise because you can cycle really fast on a bike but it’s not too much load and impact on your joints. You can still get your puffs up in the pool as you’re moving your aquatic dumbbells through the water but you're not getting that impact on your joints. So we do encourage vigorous exercise as we progressively overload the body as time goes  on but we certainly would hate to see any jumping or any sort of high-impact movements that  we're going to put a lot of pressure on the joints people with osteoarthritis can have an additional  condition of obesity and as we're trying to drop out our body weight it's certainly advisable  not to put too much pressure on those joints.