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Strength Training: It’s All Natural
Experts say that if you have RA, strength training is something you should fully embrace, not back away from. “Exercise is a great anti-inflammatory,” says Gustavo Carbone, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Miami Health System on Coral Gables, Florida. People with RA constantly ask me about natural things they can take, he says. “Exercise, including strength training, is the best natural thing there is.” Strength training is especially important for people with RA because it helps to stabilize the joints, explains Scott Haak, a physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. “Part of the consequence of RA and joint erosion can be ligamentous laxity, which inherently decreases the stability of joints. Working small muscles can be beneficial with stabilizing joints and improving function,” he says. RELATED: The Best Body-Weight Exercises for Every Part of Your Body
Strength Training Is Beneficial for People With RA
The benefits of strength training, which is using any size weights to improve muscle strength, are vast for everyone. These exercises protect bone health and muscle mass, boost energy levels and mood, and increase resting metabolism so weight stays off easier. According to the Mayo Clinic, regular strength training also aids people as they age, making falls less likely, everyday activities easier, and, along with aerobic exercise, may even improve thinking and learning skills. In fact, a review of the benefits of exercise for people with RA in the Journal of Aging Research concluded that exercise training is so valuable for improving function without exacerbating disease activity that “all RA patients should be encouraged to include … resistance exercise training as part of routine care.” RELATED: How to Try a Simple Breath Practice for Rheumatoid Arthritis-Related Stress and Pain
Some People With RA Have Concerns About Joint Pain and Fatigue
Some people with RA worry that strength training and other exercise might be detrimental. Research published in July 2015 in Sports Medicine, for instance, found that people with the condition often say that “pain and fatigue” are barriers to working out — even as they also recognize that doing it regularly with diminish these symptoms of their disease. Working out also does not seem to harm the joints. A pilot study of eight individuals with stable courses of RA, published in Musculokeletal Care, found that performing lower-body resistance exercises, along with aerobics, for 30 minutes does not result in changes to joint health, as measured by serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (sCOMP) and knee joint synovial inflammation. RELATED: Online Workouts You Can Do at Home Right Now
Ask About Physical Therapy
Once your doctor says you can exercise, it’s best to get a referral to a physical therapist (PT), who can show you how work around your condition. While you don’t want to lift weights with joints that are flaring, Genie Lieberman, an occupational therapist and director of the Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida, says you can still strength train muscles in other body parts during that time. Need more inspiration? Several recent studies point to ways to help make your exercises more effective and more enjoyable:
1. You Can Lift Less Weight
Most people think you have to lift mega-sized dumbbells to get results from strength training. And it’s true that if you want to look like Serena Williams, you will need very heavy weights.
Focus on What You Are Lifting, and You Can Use Lighter Weights
But a small but important study published in June 2017 in Life Sciences showed that when people lift light weights and focus their minds as if they are contracting their muscles for a heavier load, they significantly improve muscle strength. Interestingly, people lifting the same light weights while watching an entertaining video (and therefore not concentrating on their muscles) didn’t see the same gains. The authors concluded that such “high-effort” exercise done with light weights can be safe and effective for people with health conditions that preclude their lifting heavier weights.
2. You Don’t Have to Go It Alone
People often avoid weight training because they think it’s boring. But a review published in April 2017 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine looked at some reasons people avoid strength training and offered suggestions to combat them.
Hatch a Workout Plan and Add Friends
The researchers found, for example, that planning a workout in advance increases the odds that you’ll do so. So does enlisting the encouragement of family and friends. (You might even ask them to go to the gym or to lift weights at home with you, which will benefit them, too.) The authors also suggest finding ways to make the exercises enjoyable, such as listening to upbeat music or working out with a PT or trainer you like. RELATED: 7 Fun Ways to Move More at Midlife
3. You Can Make Workouts Work for You
Sometimes people gain strength while working out at a physical therapist’s office, but they can’t translate that into exercising at home. That’s why Hong Kong researchers explored the effects of adherence to an exercise program that was tailor-made for a small group of participants with knee arthritis. In a 2016 article in Clinical Interventions in Aging, they described their method, which proved effective in boosting adherence and health outcomes in this pilot program.
Which Moves Are Most Doable for You?
They found that it’s better for the PT to teach you exercises that are done while sitting or standing rather than lying down. That way, you can do your resistance exercises at home while watching TV. They also found it helps to ensure that you understand all the steps involved in each exercise so you can do them later; study authors provided both in-class demonstrations and handed out posters and pamphlets with pictures and descriptions of each move. RELATED: The Best Fat-Burning Exercises for at Home and the Gym
4. Soreness Doesn’t Have to Stop You
While doing strength training, it’s important to listen to your body, Lieberman cautions. After you exercise, if you feel pain that is severe or lasts more than an hour, talk to your PT or trainer about modifying specific exercises for the next time. But don’t let soreness be a reason to stop, since all effective strength training makes you feel sore. “Any exercise done when a person is not conditioned is going to hurt for a while — not just people with RA, but everyone,” Dr. Carbone says.
