[The video above is a demonstration of aquatic exercises for people with arthritis courtesy of livestrong.com]
Coco the arthritis cat takes control of her arthritis pain. She is a 16-year-old black moggy who exercises weekly on a treadmill designed for dogs. Read more here.
Photo credit: Caters News Agency
In her interview with Daily Mail, Coco’s vet Amie Horsie said that the hydrotherapy unit works rather like an underwater treadmill. It allows Coco to exercise and build muscle tone and strength. Most importantly, it empowers her to stay active and fit.
Hypdrotherapy is just as effective in humans. It helps people with rheumatoid arthritis relax. Body weight is reduced by 50% to 90% in water, making moving joints and exercising easier. The video above should help you get started.
Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) president, Cheryl Koehn, took advantage of last night’s golden opportunity to exercise by swimming as the sun set at Jericho Beach.
Cheryl swears by her regular therapeutic swims after work to help cope with shoulder pains from her rheumatoid arthritis. Also, it helps her to maintain muscle strength in an “arthritis friendly”, non-weight bearing fashion. She has inspired her staff at the ACE office to bike and walk to work.
How are you exercising in the sun? Here are a few more ideas in addition to swimming:
Bicycling
Walking
Playing tennis
Jogging
Running
Pilates
Yoga
Gardening
Try to make exercise a part of your arthritis treatment plan. Depending on your individual arthritis and diagnosis, the above ideas may or may not be suitable for your exercise plan. Please consult with your family doctor before starting a new exercise routine. This June 2011′s issue of JointHealth™ Monthly may help you get started.
A study in Brazil showed that creatine may help build muscle strength in fibromyalgia patients. The study was conducted by Bruno Gualano, a professor at the University of São Paulo School of Physical Education and Sports. Continue reading →
Meet Dr. John Bosomworth. While in attendance at 21st Annual Rural and Remote Medicine Course “Sea To Sea To Sea”, a conference for rural physicians, the Arthritis Broadcast Network interviewed Dr. John Bosomworth. Dr. Bosomworth is a retired rural family physician from Princeton, BC who continues to give lectures including at this event. Here, he discusses the topic of one of his talks, which was the link between osteoarthritis and obesity.
To view more videos from this conference and the 2013 Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting that ABN attended earlier this year, please click here.
A side-benefit of the campaign “Walk Your A.S. Off” – despite the obvious one that you must get out and walk every day – is that I am actively seeking out new walking terrain. When I moved to a new house last summer, I began to explore some of the streets and walking trails surrounding my neighbourhood. Turns out that the municipality and various walking associations have sculpted proper walking paths through the local forest and along protected wetlands and riverbanks. You can march along for kilometers on these trails, which are conveniently located, maintained by the walking groups, and very accessible from my house (I don’t have to drive to a walking path as I did in the past). Continue reading →
