Exercising, without a doubt, has many benefits for everybody, no matter the age. However, when joint stiffness and battling pain becomes a daily burden, it is understandable that people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis think twice about exercising. Why cause more soreness in the muscles and pain in the joints to the already aching body?

Rheumatoid arthritis is usually diagnosed with taken x-rays by a physician who looks for joint inflammation and deformity, nodules of the skin, and other inflammation in other parts of the body. A final diagnosis will be based on a pattern of symptoms, such as the symmetrical distribution of inflamed joint. A blood test will also confirm an abnormal antibody count in patients with arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis inflammation comes and goes. When the disease is flaring up, it is usually accompanied by fatigue, low energy levels, loss of appetite, fever, joint pain and stiffness. This occurs mostly in the morning and movement is gained throughout the day. About 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, with women three times more affected than males.

Chronic inflammation can lead to cartilage and bone damage, as well as muscle weakness. But regular exercise can help you stay healthy and increases your sense of well being, despite this painful disease. There are three fitness components that should be focused on: flexibility, strength training and cardiovascular exercises.

Flexibility includes moving each joint through the full range of motion to increase your mobility in each joint. A flexible joint reduces the risk of injury and helps in daily functional tasks. Flexibility training should be done before strength training to warm-up the body and prepare for more strenuous activities. Tai Chi and Yoga are wonderful exercises to increase flexibility. Both Tai Chi and Yoga also focus on deep breathing and relaxing tense muscles, and are just as beneficial to your overall well-being.

Strength training or resistance exercises will strengthen the muscles and ligaments around the joint. Therefore, any muscle weakness that would naturally occur will be counteracted. Stronger muscles are less likely to get injured compared to weaker muscles. Depending on severity of arthritis, isometric exercises are better to start with than isotonic. Isometric exercises are basically exercises where there is no joint movement, but the muscles are still working. For instance, pressing the palms of both hand together will engage the muscles and increases strength. The increase of strength, however, is limited and eventually strength training through the range of motion (isotonic) should be included.

Walking is the first step to improve cardiovascular fitness. This weight bearing exercise helps to build muscles and stamina at the same time. Start at a short distance and increase the distance as your body adapts to it.

Other exercises such as water aerobics, swimming and biking are also great, since those are non-weight bearing exercises. When the knees and hips are hurting, exercises that don’t carry your body weight might be helpful. They keep you moving without putting extra stress on the joints.

The properties of the water makes moving even more comfortable than walking on land. The water exerts resistance around all body parts and moving through it engages all muscles. In order, to get the cardiovascular benefit, it is important though, not to just float in the water. Getting the heart rate up and staying in your heart rate zone is most important for improvements. Note that for water exercising the heart rate is 15-20 beats lower than on land exercises due to water resistance.

Rheumatoid arthritis feels different for everybody, and not every day is as good or bad as another. Even though regular exercise is important to feel as good as you can, you need to use common sense when exercising. Your doctor will give you more ideas and guidelines for your specific situations. The key is to not give up and keep moving.