When Bad Joints Stop You From Exercising (5 Things To Change)

The first trick to exercising with bad joints is to have better joints.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you can take a supplement and magically your joint problems will be cured, but there are adjustable lifestyle factors that can and will make things relatively better or worse.

We say “and will”, because you don’t get a choice in that part. Everything we do, every little choice in our day, makes our health a little better or a little worse in some aspect(s). But we do get a choice between “relatively better” and “relatively worse”.

With that in mind, do check out:

• Avoiding/Managing Osteoarthritis
• Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis
• How To Really Look After Your Joints

Ok, you have bad joints though; what next?

Let’s assume you’re doing your best with the above, and/or have simply decided not to, which is your call. You know your circumstances best. Either way, your joints are still not in sufficiently good condition to be able to exercise the way you’d like.

First, the obvious: enjoy low-impact exercises

For example:

• Swimming
• Yoga (much more appropriate here than the commonly-paired “and tai chi”)*
• Isometric exercises (i.e. exercise without movement, e.g. squeezing things, or stationary stability exercises)

*This is not to say that tai chi is bad. But if your problem is specifically your knees, there are many movements in most forms of tai chi that require putting the majority of one’s weight on one bent leg, which means the knee of that leg is going to suffer. If your knees are fine, then this won’t be an issue and it will simply continue strengthening your knees without discomfort. But they have to be fine first.

See also: Exercising With Osteoporosis

Second: support your joints through a full range of motion

If you have bad joints, you probably know that there’s an unfortunate paradox whereby you get to choose between:

1. Exercise, and inflame your joints
2. Rest, and your joints seize up

This is the way to get around that damaging dilemma.

Moving your joints through a full range of motion regularly is critical for their maintenance, so do that in a way that isn’t straining them:

If it’s your shoulders, for example, you can do (slow, gentle!) backstroke or front-crawl or butterfly motions while standing in the comfort of your living room.

If it’s your knees, then supported squats can do you a world of good. That means, squat in front of a table or other stable object, with your fingertips (or as much of your hands as you need) on it, to take a portion of your weight (it can be a large portion; that’s fine too!) while you go through the full range of motion of the squat. Repeat.

And so forth for other joints.

See also: The Most Underrated Hip Mobility Exercise (Not Stretching)

Third: work up slowly, and stop early

You can do exercises that involve impact, and if you live a fairly normal life, you’ll probably have to (walking is an impact exercise). You can also enjoy cycling (low-impact, but not so low-impact as we discussed in the last section) and work up to running if you want to.

However…

While building up your joints’ mobility and strength, it is generally a good idea to stop before you think you need to.

This means that it’s important to do those exercises in a way that you can stop early. For example, an exercise bike or a treadmill can be a lot of use here, so that you don’t find you need to stop for the day while miles from your house.

If you get such a device, it doesn’t even have to be fancy and/or expensive. This writer got herself an inexpensive exercise bike like this one, and it’s perfectly adequate.

Fourth: prioritize recovery, even if it doesn’t feel like you need it

Everyone should do this anyway, but if your joints are bad, it goes double:

Overdone It? How To Speed Up Recovery After Exercise (According To Actual Science)

Fifth: get professional help

Physiotherapists are great for this. Find one, and take their advice for your specific body and your specific circumstances and goals.

Take care!