Pilates for Arthritis - Keep
Your Arthritis in Check

of disease, injury, overwork or just plain abuse can manifest itself in many ways in our bodies.

One of the most awful things I've seen in many of my older relatives is the pain and degeneration of arthritis.

Did you know that there are many kinds of arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis in particular is an incurable autoimmune disease of the joints. Did you know that it affects easily more than 2 million Americans? And of those people, about 50% become so disabled that by as little as 10 years after their diagnosis they are so crippled by the disease that they can no longer work.

Pilates for arthritis can indeed very helpful. Pilates itself helps strengthen the muscles around all the joints, which can easily reduce arthritis pain.

Pilates for Arthritis? If you have arthritis, please at least check into it. Here is a great article that I found by a Pilates instructor with a little more information - specifically about pilates for arthritis. Enjoy and read on.

Exercises for arthritis sufferers has traditionally been water exercise, walking and gentle forms of Yoga. Pilates is now a very acceptable form of arthritic pain relief and more and more doctors are recommending Pilates for their patients.

Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints. Moderate exercises for arthritis on a regular basis, performed in a pain free range of motion, is what is always recommended for arthritis sufferers because of the importance of keeping those effected joints mobile. Pilates benefits people with arthritis for this very reason.

Benefits include increased strength, increased flexibility, and a better sense of balance and body awareness.

Performing Pilates exercises for arthritis may also lead to a decrease in fatigue and leave you with a general feeling of well being. All of these benefits are perfect for the arthritis sufferer.

Adaptation is the name of the game when you embark on these exercises for arthritis. The key is to modify the exercises to suit your level of fitness.

Any qualified Pilates instructor can see you through an appropriate routine for your particular ailment and tailor it to be effective for you.

Here are a few basic arthritic pain relief exercises.

• Wall Roll Down: Stand with your lower back firmly against a wall and your feet about a foot away from the wall knees slightly bent. Inhale to prepare, exhale to drop your chin towards your chest and roll your spine off the wall one vertebrae at a time until your arms and head are hanging down over your hips and you've reached a point of resistance.

Inhale to stay, exhale to roll back up the wall making sure each part of your spine makes contact with the wall. Use your abdominal muscles! Note: How far you go into flexion depends on what type of arthritis you have.

Repeat three times. Good for stretching hamstrings and spine.

• Mermaid Stretch: Find a bench and sit on the front edge with your feet firmly on the ground and hips width apart. Inhale raise your right arm straight up to the sky, exhale and bend to the left, reaching out of the fingertips. Inhale to stay, exhale return to center.

Repeat both sides three times through. Make sure to keep your bottom squarely on the chair and your spine upright. Stretches the sides of your waist and ribcage.

• Imprinted Spine: Lie on the floor or on a raised platform with knees bent and feet placed hips width apart on the mat. Breathe in and engage your abdominal muscles.

Exhale and move your pelvis into a slight tuck feeling your lower back in contact with the floor. Inhale and release back to neutral.

Repeat five times.

It is very important when you have arthritis to maintain joint mobility because stiff joints mean an inability to perform your daily tasks. Quality of life may become an issue. Commit to a regular routine of strength training exercises, stretching exercises and cardiovascular exercise and you may be able to maintain function in all your joints.

Pilates exercises for arthritis sufferers may be the perfect solution to a healthier lifestyle.

By:

Susannah Marchese is a certified Pilates fitness instructor and senior contributing writer to everything-about-pilates.com, for more information on this topic please visit: http://www.everything-about-pilates.com/exercises-for-arthritis.html

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