Osteoarthritis: Exercising With Arthritis

Overview

When you have arthritis, exercise and activity can help you to:

• Feel better and make daily tasks easier to do.
• Reduce joint pain and stiffness.
• Prevent damage and injury to your joints.
• Prevent arthritis from getting worse.
• Keep your muscles strong. Weak muscles can put added stress on your joints.
• Improve balance. Exercises that stretch and strengthen the muscles and joints can help older adults keep their balance, which can help prevent falls.
• Reach and stay at a healthy weight.

Movement also pumps fluid in and out of the joint space, which helps your joint stay healthy. When you don't move as much, you lose some of that natural pump action.