Exercising in water

Exercising with Arthritis: Aquatic Therapy

This is a guest post by Genevieve Lawrence, representative from http://www.Hydroworx.com.

If you are suffering from arthritis, you may enjoy a love/hate relationship with exercise. No doubt you have been told that exercise will help improve your situation in some of the following ways:

* Exercise will help keep you at a healthy weight and reduce pressure from your joints.
* Moderate exercise will help keep the muscles and surrounding tissues strong to improve support for your bones.
* Keeping moving helps reduce painful inflammation and protect your joints from further damage.

But when exercise is agonizing and it may take some time to see the results, it can be difficult to embark on a fitness program. Even though the potential benefits over the short and long term may be huge, the effort is difficult and painful as stiff joints slow you down. One way to make exercise a more enjoyable and effective experience is to start a water-based exercise program. Simply the pressure of the water alone can help decrease swelling and increase circulation!

Aquatic therapy provides many benefits that traditional exercises may not to an arthritic individual. Because of the low-impact environment that water creates, it is an ideal and safe place to gently exercise joints and muscles. The water supports joints, encourages free movement and also acts as a gentle resistance to help improve muscle strength. By being shoulder-high in water, you will have reduced the percentage of your body weight that is acting on your joints down to 10%!

There are many different methods for water exercise, from water aerobics to more condition-specific treatments that use a specialized rehab pool or swim spa. These exercises include range of motion exercises and a gentle cardiovascular exercise. A therapeutic swim spa or pool can be used to warm and massage stiff and aching joints and decrease swelling. You may find one of these at a gym, rehabilitation center, or may be purchased for in home use. There is even a water treadmill for those who like the motion of walking but want to drastically reduce the impact on joints.



There are some precautions and items to consider before embarking on any aquatic exercise program:

* You may need help getting in and out of a spa or pool. Take that into consideration when looking into both public and private pools for aquatic exercise. There are pools and pool equipment specifically design to make access easier. Look for these when considering where you want to exercise.

* Always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise program. If you have any other health conditions that may make an aquatic exercise program less than ideal for you, they will be able to let you know in advance.

* Check the temperature of the pool. Ideal conditions for comfortable exercise are between 83 and 88˚ F according to the Arthritis Foundation. Water that is too cold may not impart the same benefits and too hot water may cause dizziness or nausea.

Finding the right water exercises for you can also be fun! Check with your local health facilities and see what programs they offer. They may not only have the facilities, but also may have groups and classes where you can work out with others, making exercising a fun social activity. Once you find a suitable location, you will find that aquatic therapy is a relaxing and enjoyable way to relieve the pain and stress associated with arthritis.

Major Cramps

Yesterday was sewing class. Mostly I sat in front of my sewing machine and sewed. A few times I got up to use the iron. I did not do any unusual physical activities. Yet last night I had major leg cramps. I don't think I can trace them to a specific action. I think they are a manifestation of arthritis. I suspect this because my friend D, who also has arthritis in her knees, suddenly developed serious cramps in her legs while walking one day. She ultimately had to get a ride to her car.

I woke to the cramps at about 11:30. Intense pain in my right inner thigh. I stretched and adjusted and cried out and finally the cramps eased, after several minutes. Then it happened in my left inner thigh. After both had subsided, after much pain and ineffective attempts to calm them, I lay down again and wham! Both legs exploded in pain. I told myself perhaps I should get to the shower, if I could, to some hot water, but I didn't.

Little by little, with stretches and deep breaths, I calmed them both down again. The relief! Again I thought, maybe I should ease on into the shower, but instead I tried to get back to sleep. Shortly after I was relaxed and ready to sleep, perhaps an hour and a half into this ordeal, my right leg went into spasms again. This time I managed to sit up and grope my way to the bathroom, using the bed, the wall, the door, the counter, to help myself. I turned on the shower, a walk-in shower with two seats and what appears to be a grab bar rather than a towel rack, and when it was hot I worked my way inside. Screaming pain, but in a few minutes, with both shower heads aimed at my legs, the pain eased a bit. I sat in one of the seats and aimed the hot water on top of me as well as on my legs, and I stayed there several minutes. The cramps left me. I stood to make sure. I grabbed the towel, dried myself off, put my nightshirt back on and made my way back to bed. But I stopped to grab one acetaminophen pm tablet, hoping it would help pave the way, even though it was about two a.m. at the time and the tablet would mean I'd wake later than usual.

Could it be wheat?

Yesterday I decided to quit wheat for a week, to see if there may be a noticeable difference in pain. Unfortunately, I woke yesterday with greater-than-usual pain and actually took one tylenol-codeine tablet, something I rarely do. I didn't notice any effect from it, although the pain did gradually lessen yesterday and it isn't so bad today. I'm going to try to stay off any pain meds for this week. We shall see.

An arm and a leg

I have had trouble with my left arm lately, for a few months now really. It appears to be a joint thing, more arthritis, and that's what the doctor said when I went in to see if there was anything that could be done. Not much, apparently.

The pain comes on quickly when I make wrong moves with that arm. Sharp, radiating pain, nothing you want. It has made it hard for me to lift things with that arm, to stretch it to turn on lights, that sort of thing.

This pain, along with the persistent right hip pain, make it so I am not inclined to run out there and exercise much of the time. Not good, believe me, because I know this is the answer, at least part of the answer. Must keep moving joints.

I was in Palm Springs this last weekend, staying at a motel with a nice pool. Yesterday morning I thought I'd go into the hot tub before we took off. My roomie said she'd come out with coffee and lounge around while I "exercised", which made me think maybe I'd try to swim. I got into the real pool, which is a nice one, big enough to take a few strokes and feel like swimming. The water was also quite warm, probably for all us old folks! My first stretch with my left arm reminded me rather abruptly that swimming might be impossible. It shot through with pain.

So I lay on my back and did some fluttering with my hands and feet and made my way back and forth that way a bit. I then tried to swim freestyle again. Again, the hurt. But not quite so much. Stiff and resistant and not strong so I flailed around but I did it how ever weird it looked. As I tried more I was able to make stumbly swims across. I didn't do a whole lot of these but enough to realize that perhaps I really could relieve some of the pain if I do something like this more often. I felt hopeful.

Today I am home again and I haven't gone to swim or to lift weights (a similar kind of activity). It seems like a good idea, though!

in the hand

Lately I have been having pain in my right hand. The first finger and thumb, almost like it had been broken. The digits are a little bit swollen, inflamed I guess. Another outbreak of arthritis, different location. I have been learning that when these first big assertions arrive they eventually die down and I can live with it. So I wait it out. In the meantime it is hard for me to lift things or turn knobs, that sort of thing. I had a time peeling potatoes last night.

I haven't been doing regular exercise lately, dang it all. I do get out to walk a bit, just not as much as would make much of a difference. Sometimes I just give in to the pain. And I think about steroids.

The last time I saw a doctor about this, with the pain in my left arm, he suggested taking tylenol four times a day, one capsule at a time. I have been doing that and sometimes I've taken two at a time twice a day. I do think it helps a bit, sometimes more than others. I consider this routine temporary. I am not interested in being on painkillers all my life.

Long time no write

I don't know why I have been neglecting this blog. I get caught up in other activities but I still need to stay on track here, keep a record.

Several weeks ago I woke with pain in my left arm. The kind of pain that comes when I have overdone something, like gone kayaking and used that paddle too enthusiastically. Yet I had done nothing, and it was just my left arm.

After a few days, when the pain was not going away or diminishing I figured it was probably arthritis. I lived with it for a while but finally, after a few weeks I went to see a doctor. He too figured it was arthritis but said only an x-ray would confirm. I did not want to pay for the x-ray at the time. He also said one help might be an injection of corticosteroid in the arm. I had heard about this from my friend, who has had it done elsewhere, and she said it worked beautifully to take away the pain. We talked of it and I decided to take plan B instead, for now: four acetaminophen tablets a day, spread through the day. See how it goes. I do not take NSAIDs because of the effect on my stomach.

I have been doing the acetaminophen for a couple of weeks now, some days forgetting of course, and in the past few days I have felt less pain. I do not know if this is from the pain relievers or if it happened just naturally, as is the way with arthritis. But it is a hopeful sign.

In other news, I still eat a healthy diet but too much of it and too often I add in fats which are no benefit to me. I have not exercised regularly lately because of recurring pain in my right leg but am trying to get back with a hike now and then.

Real progress

A couple of months ago I started again on the McDougall Plan. This post tells a bit about that start. I have been following it relatively painlessly, although from time to time I lapse and have too much fat or bread.

I have lost 20 pounds. Initially, in the first few days, the overall pain I was having in my joints lessened, and I hoped to find a culprit in the food I eat. I did not, but the pain did not grow again whatever I did, which is good enough. I discovered that coffee was causing me sleep problems and energy problems and stomach problems, all of which I could have guessed but I resisted. So I have cut out drinking coffee except now and then a cup or a half-cup. I have tea sometimes, herb tea.

After several weeks I decided to try hiking again. The pain in my right hip was not coming as often and I thought perhaps I could get through some small hikes. I did start small, and I did have episodes of startling, searing pain, but never anything that crippled me, made it impossibly painful to finish the hike. I have still not done many hikes, about seven or so, but they have gotten a little harder and longer and I am managing better. On my last hike I didn't have any of those bad episodes. I get stiff and I get tired but in a few days I am fine, or not worse anyway. I don't get worse by doing this.

Therefore I do feel hope. More than I've felt in a long time. I continue to do the ageless yoga sometimes, and want to make that more regular.

Right now I feel like I am on a plateau. Not a lot of energy and staying at the same weight. I will move past it.