overweight and arthritis

If you have the opportunity, swimming is great exercise because it's totally non-weight bearing so puts minimal stress on the joints. Our local hospital has a Wellness Center which is close to my home; they have recumbent bikes and steppers which have the same advantage. Their trainers are trained to work with the elderly and people with physical challenges; if this isn't available to you, a good physical therapist might be able to help you with suggested activities als.

Hi, Joan.....my wife has osteoarthritis in her knees and back. She is also quite overweight, to the point of significantly obese. I am sure this is the cause of her developing the disease in the first place, and the major reason she is digressing as she ages. The longer you do not use your joints, the less you will trust them to support you. In time, she has come to the point where she will not bend her knees much at all. For a while she used a recumbent bike which I purchased for her, but, eventually she gave in to the discomfort and the very modest weight loss, and she lost interest in the exercise regimen. She has had a couple of steroid injections in the worst of her knees, and has realized some limited short term improvement. She was on track to eventually receive the hyaluronic acid (rooster comb) injections, but never went back for them, just decided to tough it out.

Her job is a very sedentary, desk job. She gets almost no exercise during her work day, and almost every calorie she puts down her throat is stored as fat. She does not eat much volume of food, but is only managing to create a "steady state" weight, not gaining much, but also not losing.

Most orthopedists will advocate a "tough love" approach. Where joints and mobility are concerned, the old adage, "Use it or Lose It" certainly applies. In order to lose weight, she is going to have to find a way to consistently burn off her reservoir of stored fat, without replacing it on a daily basis. I have suggested that she go up to the kitchen sink and start a course of knee bends in order to loosen up her joints and begin to learn to trust their ability to hold her up. Bend slightly, maybe a 10 or 15 degree flexion, and do about 20 reps. Continue to do this at this angle daily for an entire week. Then try to increase the angle a little bit at a time and stay with this angle for a one week interval. Proceed carefully, do not rush this past your tolerance level. You must stay willing to advance and not push yourself so hard that you surrender to the pain and fear of not being able to come back up to a standing position. Hope this helps you too. Good Luck Joan.

Hi Joan, Despite your congenital problems with the hammer toes, it looks like you are making a concerted effort to try to exercise (on a daily basis). My wife, I'm afraid cannot accomplish the long walks you force yourself to make at the supermarket, for example. Going up and down stairs is a real struggle for her. She has to take them one slow step at a time, and essentially descends the stairs holding onto the rail and walking in an almost side to side pattern of movement. Carrying groceries up or down stairs would represent an absolute impossibility for her.

I would like for her to take up some occasional swimming, but alas, we do not own, nor are we near a pool. Her work hours do not provide much opportunity for her to have any free time to devote to after work swimming sessions (at the YWCA, for example.) By the time her workday is over, she is just too burned out and tired to try and incorporate much exercise into her daily regimen.

Be careful with sugar free liquids. Some of these sugar substitutes are very bad for your health in general, and have been implicated in actually making you gain weight, because of the unnatural effect it has on the pancreas in making it release too much insulin. The pancreas releases insulin in response to what the brain perceives as a load of sugar. Unfortunately, it is more qualitative response than quantitative analysis. Since most of the sugar substitutes are as much as 200 times more sweet than glucose, the brain tells the pancreas to release insulin to counteract what it sees as a huge sugar load.

Glad you are having good luck with the gel and cortisone shots. You should know that there are now some new formulas out there that you can take orally to get your hyaluronic acid. Before, the molecules of the (rooster comb) gel were too large to be absorbed orally. They have derived a synthetic version with much smaller molecules, and greater oral absorption. A lot less painful than shots, if it works. I guess we will have to wait and see if it is effective.

Have you tried the soft, silicone toe separators that you wear inside your shoes to treat the hammertoe? I, myself, have used them with pretty good results. I imagine since yours are congenital, it might not be all that effective. But, they may, at least, provide some discomfort relief and help you walk a little better.

Good Luck, keep in touch......

Obesity causes or contributes to OA both physically and chemically. Obese joint replacement patients have 4 times the risk of complications and longer recoveries from joint replacement. Many surgeons won't even do a joint replacement for obese patients.

I committed to losing 60 lbs of middle age acquired fat over a period of 30 months. At about the 20 month mark I was told the pain interfering with my hiking and walking exercise routine (10 miles on weekends, 1 to 3 miles every week night) was due to OA in my hips and knees, and that would need hip replacement in a year or two, and knee replacements within the decade. Not wanting to terminate my weight loss program, I had to find another outdoor exercise.

I tried using my bike but it was difficult to swing my leg over the bar, and ridding it for long periods was uncomfortable. Then I realized that people without the use of their lower body, and people without legs, found ways to exercise and stay fit so it must be possible for someone with OA in the hips to do the same.

That lead me to a recumbent trike. I didn't need the adaptive style used by people without the use of their lower bodies. Just a standard recumbent trike (I got a used delta style on craig's list) allowed me to ride for hours in comfort. I even used it walking my dog. I outfitted it with a fairing (wind screen) and ice spike tires to allow me to use it right through the winter.

At the 30 month mark I had reached my weight loss goal. Two months later (this past June) I had a THR on the left. I'm getting a THR on the right this September. At the 2 week mark my visiting PT cleared me to start ridding the trike as part of my rehab exercising that I alternate with walking. By the 5th week after surgery I was walking up to 3 mile hikes and ridding 5 miles daily.

If you are not a quadriplegic, then you can easily loss weight through a change in diet and exercise. OA is simply not an excuse for maintaining an unhealthy weight that increases your suffering from OA.

Very much so!! I was in an accident in 2011 and weighed about 190lbs at the time since then my weight has ranged from 180lbs-240lbs. I'm currently at 230lbs which has been since April.

In the last 12 months I have fluctuated from 200, to 225, back down to 200, and now back up to 230. It is so much work to loose even a little bit of weight, I have to majorly reduce my food "enjoyment" and swim more than once a day. And then as soon as I have a flare up (which normally lasts 2 months) the weight adds on because I'm not active and I emotionally eat.

I hate the cycle!!!

With hip and back arthritis I walk with a cane with quite a bit of pain, especially on pavement. But I find that riding a bike (a real bike, outdoors) actually improves my arthritis, especially my back. I think biking brings blood to the injured area, and stimulates the muscles and stretches them. When you're sedentary the muscles can contract painfully.

I find that walking on uneven ground that goes up and down, as in hiking, is easier on my joints than walking on pavement. Two hiking poles make it easier.

I know this is an old thread, but will reply anyway.
I agree with "Nogods" that the solution to losing weight is simple. (Eat less than you burn in a day, and exercise. However, executing that plan is not always so "easy".
I also agree with the poster that said many surgeons won't do a TKR on an obese patient. I have gotten to be good friends with my Ortho-Surgeon over the last five years of being under his care for my knees. He confided in me that he gets very frustrated at obese people who complain about complications with TKR. He said something like "every pound of fat puts 5lbs of stress on your knee. ( not sure if that is 100% true, but it makes sense.

Weight is not about how much you eat but what you eat. My weight came down from 193 lbs to 145 lbs and I eat more now than I did when I was heavy. The difference is I eat more raw fruits and vegetables and not a lot of process foods. If you want to help your arthritis you need healthy blood. That is how the body repairs itself. Eating things like sugar and fried foods will clog up your arteries and prevent the vitamins and minerals from getting to your joints so they can be repaired. When you look at the packages of process foods read the ingredients. There are chemicals in these packages which are not good for the body. Go on a diet of raw fruits and vegetables and you will not have a problem with weight. You will not have to count calories and you can eat as much as you want. Dr. Bergman says you will get rid of your arthritis in 90 days if you get your blood healthy.

Eating healthy is a very good idea but it will not rid you of arthritis though it might help. Exercise also helps.
You must understand that xrays do not lie and when they show a problem, there is a problem. The cartilege or spongy materials wears away and that is not good for the bones as they have no cushions.

Eating healthy, exercise as much as you can but don't expect a complete miracle.

I am already a convert to healthy food. That does not cure everything. Since I was born with dislocation of the hip and hammer toes, I think I have done very well.

Unfortunately, as a child I did not eat well but ever since I was able to pay for it...I have eaten only the best.