Is joint pain wreaking havoc in your life? Even the basics of getting through your day – like walking, getting into your car or doing household chores can give you nightmares. As a result, you eventually lose interest in moving around physically and stay confined to your limits.

However, limiting your movements is not the right solution and it will only make matters worse. Fight fire with fire and exercise your way to getting rid of pain and move about freely. Yes, you heard it right, exercise is the right remedy for joint pain.  In this article know how to exercise to counter joint pain.

Ways Exercise Helps Alleviate Joint Pain

The common causes of joint pain can range from arthritis, poor posture, injury, strain, ageing or inactivity. Don’t give in to temptations of avoiding physical activity altogether, just because it’s difficult for you. 

Breakaway from your comfort zone and push yourself a step further to reduce your pain. Understand that some exercise is better than no exercise. Here’s how exercise counters joint pain:


Preserve or Restore Range of Motion and Flexibility Around Affected Joints

Gentle exercises for the joints help to improve joint mobility and flexibility. If you restrict the movement of your affected joints, it will only lead to stiffness and cause more strain. On the contrary, when you expose joints to regular movement it stays limber and active. When daily chores require strain on those joints, they will be better equipped to handle the excess pressure.


Increase Muscle Strength and Endurance

Use your own body weight as resistance to build muscle strength and endurance, no need of any gym equipment. Doing Yoga or resistance training is way more effective to improve endurance and get those muscles working.


Improved Balance

Body awareness exercises like Tai Chi or Yoga can help to improve your balance, prevent falls, improve posture, co-ordination along with a relaxing effect. Apart from having its desired effects on the joint, it also improves the overall balance within your body.


Increase Aerobic Conditioning to Improve Lung and Heart Function

Exercises, when done to go beyond your aerobic capacity, are the ones that are more effective and burn more calories. Even if initially you are not able to push yourselves, doing some form of regular exercise despite your joint pain will gradually improve your aerobic capacity. This will improve oxygenated blood flow to all parts of the body and in turn, strengthen your lungs and heart.

How to Exercise to Counter Joint Pain 

Don’t go overboard with exercises right away. It can overwork your muscles and deepen your strain. Start slow in order to ease your joints. Consider the following tips to get you started:

Low Impact

Start with low impact exercises like walking, stationary cycling or water exercises to begin with. This will keep joint stress low while you move


Move Gently

Rigorous movement is not recommended. Move gently, in the beginning, to warm up. Start with a range of motion exercises that target the affected joints for 10 minutes before you move onto high-intensity exercises like aerobics or strength training


Go Slow

Exercise with slow and easy movements. Take breaks in between and if you feel pain. If pain worsens, you might want to stop to understand if there is something wrong that you are doing


Stretch Before and After

Do warm-ups before and after the workout to ease your muscles. This will help to increase core temperature and blood flow before the workout. As you cool down with stretches it will help you relax your muscles and suppress the central nervous system.
   

Don’t use pain as an excuse not to exercise. Instead, make it a reason to get the exercise done. Start simple and work your way up to a pain-free life. Apart from physiological benefits, exercise will also help you feel better with a revived mood and a decrease in anxiety.


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