Joint Pain? Get Moving!

Laura Landro wrote an excellent article in today's Wall Street Journal on joint pain. She notes that for joint pain, including osteoarthritis, doctors increasingly are recommending physical activity to help osteoarthritis patients, overturning the more traditional medical advice for people to take it easy to protect their joints.

Ms Landro also notes, "The most dangerous exercise you can do when you have arthritis is none," says Kate Lorig, director of the Patient Education Research Center at Stanford University. Since each pound of extra body weight adds the equivalent of four pounds to the knees, even a small loss of weight can cut in half the risk of knee osteoarthritis for women, who are at higher risk than men, studies show.

The Center for Disease Control's (CDC) surveys show that doctors have lagged behind federal recommendations to counsel osteoarthritis patients on the benefits of exercise and self-management programs. "The medical system has been focused on repairing patients and not getting them to manage themselves to avoid disability," says Charles Helmick, the scientific leader of the CDC's arthritis program. "Patients may worry that if they exercise the pain is going to get worse," he says.

Read the full article here. 

Most of our clients started Pilates at the recommendation of a health practitioner to deal with some form of joint pain. The 4Ss of Pilates: Strength, Stretch, Stamina and Stability, help reduce pain, enable better range of motion, maintain or reduce weight, and enable more exercise. Email or call us (843.641.0185) for more information or client references, or take a look at our web site.