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Exercising with osteoarthritis Start with lots of range of motion work, taking each joint through its full range of motion five to eight times. Continue your osteoarthritis exercise session by walking in a warm pool, if you have access to one. If you don't have access to a pool, walking on land is acceptable, as is using an exercise bicycle or elliptical trainer. I don't recommend stairclimbers or running at this stage. The goal is to get your heart and lungs in shape and get the blood flowing to your muscles and joints.

After three to four weeks, add weight training, but instead of doing a lot of repetitions (reps) with a low weight, consider doing fewer reps (no more than six to eight at a time) with a higher weight. Aim for three sets of reps two to three times a week for each muscle group. How fast you progress depends on how you feel, and you have to judge for yourself if you feel you've overdone it.

In general, if it hurts when you do the exercise, you should back off on the intensity or the number of reps. However, feeling sore a day or two after exercise is often the normal response to muscles being challenged; as your muscles become conditioned to exercise, the soreness should diminish. A prolonged increase in pain, however, could be a sign you've done too much too soon and you should cut back to just range-of-motion and stretching exercises.

Ronenn Roubenoff, MD, Rheumatologist

12 years ago. Rating: 3
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