Joint pain characterized by stiffness, swelling, and fatigue due to joint diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) can be overwhelming to the patient making one opt just to sit around. However, you should engage in regular exercise activities to significantly help relieve the pain and joint stiffness. You don’t necessarily have to overdo the exercise; even small and moderate steps will go a long way in reducing the pain and improving your well-being.
Backed up by accurate information, the research found out that generally, for people suffering from joint pain diseases, their most significant obstacle to staying active is fatigue. Further, the study showed that many people claim to have symptoms such as lack of energy, general weakness, and tiredness. It’s important to note that there is also decreased muscle strength when we are inactive or not doing any exercise, leading to more joint pains.
Some of the suggested physical activities for men of any age with joint pain include;
Walking
Walking is a free activity that is doable anywhere. It’s a low-impact form of exercise that helps with the aerobic conditioning of the body, setting a relaxed mood, joints, and general heart health.
While planning on going for a walk, it’s essential to wear the proper shoes and keep your body hydrated, even for less strenuous walks. It’s advisable to start with slow walks and gain pace with time or as the body starts responding positively. More so, it’s recommended that you start your walking routines on flat and even surfaces as you progress and advance to uphill, downhill, or uneven areas.
Strength Training
For people experiencing joint pains, triggering your joints wrongly can worsen the pain and overall symptoms. But it’s worth noting that when you have stronger muscles, the less the strain is on the joints. So, you shouldn’t be afraid to lift weights since they are a great way of strengthening and boosting your muscle mass.
Research done in April 2018 concluded that resistance and aerobic exercises significantly improve endurance, strength, and aerobic capacity when combined in older adults with joint pains. For ideal strength training, start slowly with weight machines, resistance bands, and free weights. Keep consistency of about twice or thrice a week doing exercises that build different body muscle groups.
Swimming
Water provides an excellent place for stretching your body muscles as well as soothing your joints. Try water aerobics class and combine walking on water and swim laps. Water supports body weight by minimizing gravity; thus, doing exercise underwater does not cause a lot of joint pains. Swimming is excellent for working your whole body and improving your cardiovascular health, meaning you can exercise effectively, tone up, and look good in your men’s jockstraps.
For this reason, gentle water exercises have higher chances of increasing flexibility, aerobic conditioning, and range of motion. Additionally, swimming helps boost our mood, control our weight, and overall health improvement when done right.
Cycling
Cycling benefits on joint paints are attested to by many success stories in dealing with joint pains. It is recommended that you look into comfort bikes, mountain bikes, recumbent bikes, or hybrid bikes, which offer good stability.
Start cycling on even surfaces, and if you are using a mountain bike with gear systems, you can gradually change from low to high gears as you gauge how your body responds. Cycling helps strengthen your leg muscles, reduces joint pain, and keeps you in good shape by burning abdomen fats.
Yoga and Tai Chi
Generally, when a joint area is affected by conditions such as arthritis, the effects that are experienced are impaired coordination, reduced position awareness, and reduced balance (stability). For this reason, people are at the risk of falling and usually complain of their knees giving up on the activity.
Yoga and Tai Chi are excellent examples of exercises aimed at improving body awareness, which works to restore coordination and balance. In addition, they include a great range of motion moves and flexibility that improves joint activity and flexibility.
Doing Pilates
Pilates is low impact exercise that is aimed at improving the control of muscles while at the same time easing up pressure on the joints and hip section. They help manage joint pains and strengthen the surrounding muscles. It’s advisable to stick to your own pace while doing Pilates and if the routine is affecting you, talk to the instructor about modifications.
Balance exercises such as standing on one foot and walking backward are essential for boosting body balance. Still, you’ll need to modify some postures to reduce pressure on the joints.
Getting Fit at Home
To keep fit, you don’t have to hit the gym or go for outdoor walks necessarily. There are various home activities that you can engage in and get almost similar goals and results. You can opt to assist in raking leaves, cutting grass, or even tending to your outdoor garden by pulling weeds.
Similarly, you can practice balancing on one leg to improve your balance. You can as well improvise some strengthening exercises using a chair by repeating the sitting and standing movements.
Whichever exercise you choose to do, be sure to respect and protect your body. Do not overdo any exercise, as it can ultimately worsen your symptoms. Get in shape, don some