OSTEOARTHRITIS REHABILITATION OF KNEE AND HIP

OSTEOARTHRITIS REHABILITATION OF KNEE AND HIP

The old slogan, “Move it or lose it,” goes double, or perhaps triple, for people with osteoarthritis

Years ago, arthritis was treated with rest and immobilization. Scientists have since learned that locking up the joints actually makes them worse.

There’s a huge body of literature demonstrating that keeping the hips and knees moving, and the muscles around the joints strong, contributes greatly to protecting the joints and staving off additional damage caused by arthritis,

People with knee and hip osteoarthritis have limitations, Which exercises can you do to make the most of your mobility without increasing pain or risking injury?

                Exercises to Avoid With OA of the Knee or Hip:

·         Running and jogging. “The difference between how much force goes through your joints jogging or running, as opposed to with walking, is sometimes more than tenfold your whole body weight,

·         Jumping rope.

·         High-impact aerobics.

·         Any activity where, at any time, you have both feet off the ground at once, however briefly.

Exercises to improve OA of the Knee or Hip

Cardiovascular Exercise

Good cardiovascular exercises for people with knee and hip osteoarthritis include walking, swimming, and cycling. “Really, it’s anything that you can tolerate that gets your heart rate going,

If you can take a brisk walk, it can keep you mobile and help to reduce pain. If walking for exercise is too painful, try a recumbent bicycle. “These bikes extend the angle of the joint so that the knee and hip aren’t flexing so much with each rotation, so that it might cause less strain and pain,

If even the recumbent bike is too much, the swimming pool is your friend. “It feels great on the joints!”  “You must find a pool that is heated, because cold water is very painful for arthritic joints. The only downside to swimming is that it doesn’t give you the delay of bone loss that is a key benefit of weight-bearing exercise.”

Muscle Strengthening Activity

You might think that lifting weights would be bad for arthritis, but some studies show that the opposite is true. By strengthening the muscles around the joints, strength training helps to take some of the load off the arthritic joints and relieves pain. The job of connective tissue is to hold things together, so you’re losing stability in the joint, part of what’s causing the pain. When you strengthen the muscles surrounding and supporting the joint, you can relieve some of the symptoms,

Flexibility and Range of Motion

There are a number of specific exercises that you can do, designed to be easy for people with osteoarthritis, to increase your flexibility and range of motion around your knees and hips.

“We want to do activities without force that bring the hips and knees through the full range of motion in a general, unforced manner, allowing the joint to lubricate itself and help to heal the damage; you can do these stretching exercises in a pool, or on a mat near a wall for support.

Before starting an exercise or flexibility training program, check with your Physiotherapist. Depending on your ability and comfort level, try these exercises 2 to 3 times per week and gradually work up to doing the exercises daily.

Hip Exercises

·         Leg swings. Simply hold onto the edge of the pool, or the wall if you’re on land, and gently swing your leg out to the side, alternating sides. “The pool is particularly good for this, because the buoyancy assists you and you get a better range of motion, and  you also have resistance from the water that makes your muscles do more work,

·         Leg extensions. In the same position, extend your leg gently backward, alternating legs. As with all range-of-motion exercises, “If your hip is very tight, and you try to bring it behind you and it doesn’t move backward very well, you can end up overarching your back and causing back problems by doing it incorrectly.

Knee Exercises

·         Straight leg raises. Sit in a chair, straighten one leg, and raise it straight out in front of you. Alternate legs.

·         Leg curls. If you are nimble enough, lie on the floor on your stomach, and gently bend your heel back toward your buttocks, making sure to keep your hips on the ground.

All of these exercises should be done without weights. “In general, it’s not a good idea to put a weight on the ankle and bend and straighten the knee. That puts a lot of torque on the knee that can exacerbate arthritis. Instead, if you want to add weight, it’s better to use something like the full leg press machine, which has you lie down and push a plate up. With those, your full body weight is somewhat unloaded from the joint.”