What Does Exercise Do to Arthritic Joints?

What is arthritis? Before we talk about how exercise impacts arthritic joints, I would like to first explain what arthritis is.

Arthritis has many different names: degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc disease, and spondylosis, just to name a few. The use of these different names often depends on the location of arthritis. There are also many types of arthritis — the two most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an inflammatory joint condition that leads to degeneration. (See the picture for more information.)

Please speak with your doctor to determine which form of arthritis you may have. In this article, we will focus on Osteoarthritis.

As we age, the soft cartilage tissue in the joints loses some of its water content and becomes less plump and less cushioned. As the soft tissue thins, a small amount of movement is allowed to occur within the joint. In other words, the two bones wiggle a little more than they used to. This increased movement leads to further breakdown of the cartilage. Eventually, the cartilage becomes very thin, as you can see above in the picture. Bones then rub together causing the buildup of bone spurs, because bones respond to stress by building more bone. (This is called Wolff’s Law.)

Now, you may be thinking that this sounds like a terrible cycle that simply cannot be stopped. But the good news is that proper, safe exercise and physical therapy can help.