Exercises To Help Strengthen Your Joints 1

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of strong bones to help prevent breaks and fractures. But what about strong joints to help prevent joint injuries and decrease joint pain?

Joint pain may be caused by different things such as a direct injury to a joint. Joint pain is also often caused by arthritis. While exercise is important for everyone, it’s particularly important for anyone who has arthritis.

Exercises to strengthen the body’s joints work by building the muscles around the joints for greater joint stability. Joint strengthening exercises also help protect the joint and keep it strong. These exercises also help keep a joint’s range of motion at its best.

If you have joint pain due to arthritis or an injury, there are a number of simple exercises that can be done to help strengthen your joints. Ask your healthcare provider to recommend an appropriate routine for you.

Exercises include aerobic exercise such as:

Swimming. Swimming is a great aerobic exercise that also strengthens muscles and joints with reduced risk of joint wear and tear, as experienced with running.

Cycling. Riding a bike is another excellent low-impact exercise to strengthen joints and improve your overall fitness.

Range-of-motion exercises. These exercises involve moving the joints through their full range-of-motion, which helps to reduce stiffness and increase flexibility.

Strength training. Strength-building exercises, such as weight training, build the muscles around joints for greater strength and support.

Stretching/Flexibility. It is best to complete stretching and strengthening exercises little and often throughout the day. Swimming is also a good all-round aerobic exercise, that can also strengthen and stretch the muscles.

You may also benefit from exercises that target and strengthen specific joints. Knee injuries and knee pain, for example, are common. Exercises that strengthen the muscles that support the knees can help prevent knee injuries and pain.

In contrast, anyone with joint pain should use caution when participating in exercises that are high impact, and may therefore worsen joint pain and inflammation. These exercises include

• Jogging and running
• Jumping
• Sports that involve a lot of repetitive movement, like tennis
• High impact aerobics

Speak to your doctor or physiotherapist before beginning any exercise programme. Always use caution when exercising, and stop if you have pain. In addition, if you are experiencing joint pain, ask your doctor which exercises are the most appropriate for you.