Arthritis is a painful condition that causes your joints to be inflamed and sore, and is hard to deal with let alone get exercise in.
However, moving your body is important when you have arthritis.
The following exercises are gentle enough for you to do even if you suffer from arthritis:
Chair Stand
If you have severe arthritis pain, you probably struggle with standing or walking for long periods of time. That is what makes the chair stand exercise so perfect. It gets your body moving and allows you to stand up, which is important with this condition, but it won’t cause too much discomfort for you.
You should use a chair that is comfortable and keeps your body upright, but isn’t hard to get out of. Avoid using a recliner or couch when doing the chair stand. To do this exercise, you will simply sit up in the chair, stand up off the chair, then sit back down. This works on your leg muscles and can also help with balance.
Water Walking
You are in luck if your assisted living community has a swimming pool, or if you can go to a gym that has one. Not only are there water aerobics classes, but water walking exercises are excellent when you have arthritis.
All you need to do is stand in the shallow end of the pool and start walking in place or trying to move a little bit while walking under the water. This gets your body moving, but it isn’t too hard on your legs and other joints that might be hurting you.
Yoga
You are going to see a lot of recommendations for yoga, and that is because it is ideal for seniors, especially those living in an assisted living community. Yoga is very versatile, allowing you to modify most of the movements, take your time to learn, and get tons of health benefits. You can do it with or without a working DVD, on your own in your room, outside, or in a class with others in the community.
The important thing when it comes to yoga is that you don’t push yourself too hard and try to do moves that are uncomfortable for you.
Yoga should not be painful or cause you to wake up and be sore.
Do gentle, easy movements and only go to the more advanced ones when you have lots of practice and feel comfortable doing so.