Is Walking Good for Osteoarthritis?

… Continued …

Ask a question to yourself – is your body ready for exercise?

While exercise such as walking is beneficial for your osteoarthritis (OA) and great for overall health, but it may become counterproductive if you do it when your body (especially the affected joint) is not ready for any exercise!

Therefore, it’s much better to get a medical clearance from your healthcare provider! If you have certain health condition or have been sedentary, never try beginning an exercise program without consulting first to your doctor – in order to keep safe!

If necessary, work with a certified professional trainer!

You don’t need to work with an exercise trainer all the time. But in starting your exercise program, seeking appropriate guidance can help you reach the goal safely and more effectively.

A certified physical therapist or professional trainer can help make an appropriate design of how you should start the exercise safely and make some adjustments along with the level of your physical status.

For instance, based on your walking posture; a professional trainer can help teach how long you should warm up and cool down – before and after an exercise. Once you know the pattern of how you should exercise properly, you may be able to work alone.

Don’t jump directly to strenuous exercise!

You can get worn out if you start your walking program or any exercise too hardly. So don’t go full-force into it. Instead, start it slowly!

If you are also overweight and want to use your exercising program to lose some pounds of your weight, set a realistic goal! For instance; in the first 2 weeks, aim for walking about 30 minutes (3 times a week).

Make a list of the schedule for your exercise program! If necessary, write down the information about how often, how long, and how far you should walk!

Beware to any symptoms and listen the limit of your body!

The more steps you make and the faster your steps, the greater chance for your body to make more strong muscles around the damaged joint by osteoarthritis.

As your body gets used to the exercise, you may be able to increase the intensity. However, it’s also important to listen to the limit of your body!

Keep motivated!

Again, the key is regular and in moderation. No matter how many calories you burn or how many muscles you gain, but if you cannot make your exercise as a part of your lifestyle, all of these good things will go away.

A couple of months after you start the exercise; you may lose your motivation to keep active. In fact, it is not always easy to keep motivated all the time and this can be the biggest issues when it comes to take part in regular exercise.

But there are plenty of options to cope with this issue. For instance, you can occasionally invite a friend, your wife /husband, or even a pet for walking together. Joining into a walking group is also good idea.

And as noted before, don’t forget to take other kinds of exercises that are also safe for arthritis – so thus you are not easy to become boring with your exercise program!