Suffering from arthritis? These exercises can help you cope with knee pain

When it comes to ageing, people face a lot of health issues. We all know how age, obesity, heart diseases, or even diabetes affects our daily lifestyle. Arthritis is also one of those problems. It is characterized by swelling and tenderness of one or more of your joints. The major symptoms are joint pain and stiffness, which can worsen with age. 

Honestly, only those who are suffering from arthritis know the actual amount of pain and discomfort it causes. To reduce knee pain and restore knee function, low-impact workout and strengthening exercises can help. With regular exercise, one will be able to keep the muscles strong around the affected joints and, in fact, it can also reduce swelling and pain in the joints. 

All in all, these exercises are crucial for people with arthritis to combat knee pain. Even moderate exercise can ease your pain and help to increase the strength and flexibility of joints.

So, here are the low-impact exercises you can perform to reduce knee pain from arthritis:

1. Aerobic exercise

Walking is a great aerobic exercise, because almost everyone can walk. It is a low-impact form exercise that can help with aerobic conditioning, joints, heart, or overall health. It can ease joint pain, strengthen your leg muscles, improve your posture and flexibility. 

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Besides walking, other exercises like swimming and bicycling are also an excellent form of low-impact aerobic conditioning, which are easy on the knees and other weight-bearing joints.

2. Stretching

Anyone with arthritic knee pain can perform stretching, as long as you don’t overdo it. Doing knee stretches once or twice a day can keep your knee flexible and cartilage healthy. In fact, it can reduce stiffness and increase the range of motion.

3. Strengthening exercises

Some knee strengthening exercises can decrease everyday knee pain and slow down the progression of arthritic pain. Below are the suggested knee strengthening exercises:

• Straight leg raise

A straight leg raise is a strength training exercise that targets your quadriceps and muscles in the front of your thigh that are attached to your knee joints. This means there’s no pressure or strain on the joints. Besides, it helps to strengthen your knee in every way possible.

• Standing hamstring curls

When you have strong hamstrings, you’re less prone to injury or pain. That’s because hamstrings curls can help to stretch quadriceps, which in turn help with quad tightness and stabilize your knees.

• Calf raise/heel raise

Heel raises strengthen your calf muscles, which are related to the hamstring and the back of your knee. Strengthening calf muscles will greatly benefit your knees, and provide increased support and stability.

• Step-ups

It is a simple body resistance exercise that engages muscles in the legs and buttocks. Step-ups allow your irritated knees to settle down and allows pain to subside.

• Side leg raises

The side leg raises help to reduce the knee pain, and at the same time, strengthen your joints.

• Sit to stand

Practice this move to make standing and sitting easier, and also to reduce stiffness in the knee. Do it slowly.

• Half squat

Half squats can restore healthy joint function and reduce damage, deformity, dysfunction, and pain in the knee.

4. Yoga and tai chi

When joints and their surrounding muscles are affected by arthritis, they result in pain and impaired balance. Here’s how yoga and tai chi can help:

Yoga: People with various types of arthritic conditions can practice yoga, because it helps to reduce joint pain, and improves flexibility and function. Along with this, yoga can also help to lower the stress and tension in your joints. 

Tai chi: Tai chi is a low-impact exercise that’s gentle on the joints. It involves slow and smooth movements which can help to reduce arthritic pain and improve mobility.