I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about a year and a half ago. I used to do a lot or running (half marathons) and always felt happy, healthy and fit. With the arthritis, I often feel pain in various joints. As I thought I shouldn't run if I was in pain, I stopped running. I was, in fact, told to carry on exercising as much as possible but I also found that the philange-metatarsal bones in my foot had moved down and my toes up and so it is extremely painful to run.
I do a lot of walking and with the help of a physiotherapist, I can now stretch and move my arms, legs and head to almost full extent as they were seizing up. This has helped a lot with the pain. I still feel that I will improve further if I could start running again but that would have it's disadvantages as well.
Sorry to hear of your ra. With exercise maybe try moving to a more low impact form? Instead of running try a tread mill with a softer padded approach or static bicyling.
I used to love cycling everywhere but now the impact on my spine makes it impossible so I moved to a static bike and a video/dvd, I get the exercise with minimal shock to my spine 🙂
Also have you tried any of the exercise trainers? I wear Sketchers, shape ups and the extra padding is invaluable with the impact on my feet, knees, hips and then spine 🙂
Thank you Cascara. Sorry you can't get out on you cycle. I used to love cycling but have become a bit worried about the traffic. I have a treadmill and a static bike which I intend to use during the winter. I did buy some sketchers but found I was in quite a bit of pain after a day. Back to my trainers for now I think.
I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about a year and a half ago. I used to do a lot or running (half marathons) and always felt happy, healthy and fit. With the arthritis, I often feel pain in various joints. As I thought I shouldn't run if I was in pain, I stopped running. I was, in fact, told to carry on exercising as much as possible but I also found that the philange-metatarsal bones in my foot had moved down and my toes up and so it is extremely painful to run.
I do a lot of walking and with the help of a physiotherapist, I can now stretch and move my arms, legs and head to almost full extent as they were seizing up. This has helped a lot with the pain. I still feel that I will improve further if I could start running again but that would have it's disadvantages as well.
Hi Ylangrose
I'm not very knowledgeable on rheumatoid arthritis but your post did remind me of a story I found about a medical Doctor who had re-trained become a Personal Trainer after developing RA and find research that exercise helped. I did a bit of Googling and found it again: http://www.lifetimehf.co.uk/about-us/john-searle
He also replied to a [url]BMJ article[/url] with:
There is now a substantial body of controlled evidence to show that structured, progressive, supervised aerobic and resistance exercise programmes confer considerable benefit on patients with RA. My own disease was only partly controlled with DMRDs including methotrexate 20mg weekly. Regular, demanding exercise produced a huge improvement such that I was able to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro (5895m) in July 2005
It may be worth either trying to contact the chap or doing more research yourself.
Pete
Thanks for that Pete. Wow, fully fit again in just 8 weeks. Sounds fantastic. I have read the article and saved it to look at again later.
My GP and rheumatologist both said I should continue running. I have just bought some new running shoes and got my treadmill out so have made a start.
healthpoint electro-acupuncture device....
pulsor micro-crystals...
running is not a good way to exercise imo...hill walking, yeah...
tai chi...
You are right. I started running about 12 years ago and loved it. I have completed 9 half marathons and hope to do a tenth, hopefully in 2 hours (my shortest time has been 2 hours 15 minutes). I'll be happy if I can do that and then will concentrate on walking.