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What are you doing for Exercise?

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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 10/13/2006 4:54 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone,

What do you all do for exercise? Do you think lifting weights will aggravate things? I have RA and suffer mostly in the knees and ankles right now. I've been on Plaquenil and I think after 3 months it's finally starting to work. So, I am ready to start exercising. Walking is still not really an option though, so I was thinking water aerobics. But I wanted to see what you all did to get more ideas.

Thanks in Advance for any advice!
Posted 10/14/2006 12:38 AM (GMT 0)

If you have access to a pool - water aerobics is awesome. Swimming in general is great, but I really liked taking water aerobics years ago. I miss it terribly. You get the aerobic, and even strength training, in the water w/o any of the painful impact. There is a gym here that has 2 pools - a regularly heated one and one that is really warm for therapy and arthritis sufferers.

Even before I did water aerobics, I just walked in the pool. I bought water sneakers to do both - I highly recommend them (if they still make them). They helped me immensly, but a lot of my pain is in the feet, so the support was necessary.

****

Posted 10/15/2006 1:20 AM (GMT 0)
I also swim. What I do is thread water and walk in the deep end. I use water shoes too because of the painful situation with my feet and the tiles that pools tend to have. They are not expensive and are sold at KMart, Walmart and Target type stores.

I also put in about 1 hour a week into weight bearing activity because I went to the ER with my knee and it was recommended I do that. What I mean is that I go to a park or mall once a week and walk around an hour. I live on the second floor which helps to get the stairs in.

Best of luck in your exercising. I did water aerobics too and it was lots of fun.
Posted 10/15/2006 12:49 PM (GMT 0)
i shovel snow hehehehehehehehe
Posted 10/15/2006 11:28 PM (GMT 0)
I bet you do Yalinda!! Wow, I heard that was some storm. Glad you got your power back. Thanks for the swimming advice all. And I think I'll try the weight lifting too and see how it goes. Now I just have to get out there!!
Posted 10/21/2006 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
I have always exercised and was training for a marathon when the joint pain of AS started. There have been numerous ups and downs with maintaining any sort of exercise regimen, but I am convinced that I am stronger than I would be without the exercise. Before going on Enbrel, I had to use a cane and got to the point that I really didn't exercise at all. When I started feeling better, I started with baby steps in the gym both on the weight machines and the elliptical machine. Eventually I added in short walks and just kept buidling from there. Now, I can run two miles followed by a two-mile walk that I try to do twice a week. I also get in to the gym twice a week (I try) for strength training. It has taken a long time and I still make misjudgments, but for me I have learned pretty well to know when the pain I have will be better with exercise and when it will be worse. I don't recommend running to anyone, but I do think highly of the elliptical machine, weight machines, and pilates, which I am just starting again. It is hard to re-start exercise again after being sick or in pain for a while. For me, not getting down about that and just blowing it off for good is the hardest part but the memories of numerous days of feeling good that I could directly tie to the exercise keep me coming back. I hope you find an exercise method that works for you and that you are careful. Good for you!
Posted 10/22/2006 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for that great advice! I'm sorry you had to give up running. I used to run too. Hardly training for a marathon though, that's impressive! I did not get to the gym last week. Surprise, Surprise. :-) But I did do Yoga every day and some range of motion work on my ankles, knees, and shoulders. I have to admit, I had a sense of accomplishment, but more pain too. I haven't set off some kind of massive flare or anything, so I'm just going to carry on knowing that things like this take time. I'm anticipating some additional pain initially, but hoping that as my strength and endurance builds I will ultimately be better off. Sounds like that's a balance you have found, and I'm anxious to work through to that point too. Thanks again for your insight!
Posted 10/24/2006 2:49 PM (GMT 0)

yeah  I Rock The Cradle Of Love yeah

for exercise. LOL. hah... tongue

Posted 10/24/2006 2:53 PM (GMT 0)
LOL LOL LOL LOL
Posted 10/26/2006 6:27 PM (GMT 0)

I was going to ask a similar question, but mine had to do with MTX and any affect it may have after you work out and your muscles are "broken down".  Is the healing process slowed by MTX? 

 

I've just been reduced to 7 pills per week, and my left knee has taken to swelling the day of or the day before I take the MTX (Mondays) and then gradually gets better the rest of the week.   (Oh, and just like with all the other times my medications have been reduced, it was associated was a big spike in pain - this was my first MTX reduction and the pain spike was horrible!)

 

I have just started going back to the gym after my very long stint with bad pain and swollen joints (well, I've tried to go back several times since January, but thanks to MTX and prednisone and the subsequent illnesses I could never get a schedule going!).  My doctor kept telling me to not run or anything like that, but I've been running anyway this week.  I'm not going crazy, just jogging really on the treadmill for just a few minutes at a time and then slowing to walking.  I went Monday night with a neoprene brace on my swollen left knee, and gosh if the knee wasn't much less swollen the next morning! 

Posted 10/27/2006 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
The Cradle of Love, Erin? Sounds like a fabulous way to burn calories!! yeah I usually am too sleepy and whiney for that kind of exercise. tongue

LeeLoo, you're running with a swollen knee? That's hard core! I have a neoprene knee brace I haven't used since I found out my problems were
RA. Maybe I should dig that thing out!
Posted 10/27/2006 10:53 PM (GMT 0)
you makin me laugh and that makes me cough! voo le vou....... sry i got silly lee loo.... but it was erins fault. hehehehe
Posted 10/28/2006 9:13 PM (GMT 0)

tongue  i figured i won't leave out no task too small.  if one wants to put channel surfing, showering & scaring my cats into the category of "exercize"...well let's do that too.  heck, i'll take what i can get. :-)

peace

Posted 10/28/2006 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
I don't do one darn thing! It hurts to walk up stairs, sit etc. and sometimes takes all my willpower just to get moving. I do LOVE to swim though. We have nowhere here that does water aerobics or anything of that sort. I wish we did. OOOHH, brain storm, if my rheumy perscribes PT, I can go to their pool. Maybe I'll ask him.

Posted 10/29/2006 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
you people are just too silly...scaring your cat. My IBS is acting up right now...not a good time to swim...but I am not eating either.
Posted 11/11/2006 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
Ha ha - yeah, I worked out exactly twice before I got sick yet again. This was really mild though and lasted about a week. Maybe I will try the gym again tomorrow. Then again, maybe not...
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