RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: EXERCISES THAT ARE RIGHT FOR YOU
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: EXERCISES THAT ARE RIGHT FOR YOUExercise recommendations vary greatly, depending on the degree of arthritis activity present in the joints. Before undertaking any exercise program, you should always review it with the physician or physical therapist who is familiar with your specific situation. The key to developing and following an effective rehabilitation and exercise program is to know your arthritis.You may already appreciate that your arthritis can vary greatly over time. You may have experienced a severe flare-up of arthritis in the past after you overexerted yourself. If you know the pattern of your own arthritis, you will be the best judge of which exercises make you feel better and which ones only make you feel worse.In describing model exercise programs in the rest of this chapter, we have for the sake of convenience divided RA into three different levels of activity: very inflamed, moderately inflamed, and controlled. We recognize that this is an artificial division, however, and that few people fit neatly into any one of these categories all the time. Individuals have different exercise needs. We’d like to stress once again that no one with RA should begin an exercise program without obtaining the advice of a health care professional who is familiar with that individual’s needs.*73/209/5*
