The word arthritis strikes fear in the hearts of older adults. It often signifies aging, pain, inactivity, and disability. However, new research shows moderate physical exercise can actually ease arthritis symptoms by decreasing pain and increasing a person’s likelihood of living a normal life.

Understanding Arthritis
The most common form of arthritis– osteoarthritis, or also known as degenerative arthritis–affects more than twenty million Americans. Osteoarthritis (literally meaning “bone-joint inflammation”) is caused by wear and tear on joint surfaces and most frequently involves the hips, knees, lower back, neck, and fingers. More than half of people over sixty-five have some evidence of osteoarthritis on X-rays, although it doesn’t always manifest as symptoms.

Many problems arise from a sedentary lifestyle. Joints lose flexibility and muscles lose strength, feeding the cycle of pain, inactivity, and more pain.

Exercise Offers Sweet Relief
Vigorous walking, swimming, and bicycling boost the release of powerful endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. When done four to five days a week, these aerobic activities improve general cardiovascular health and aid in weight management (obesity is the single biggest risk factor for osteoarthritis).

Strengthening and stretching exercises targeted at maintaining joint flexibility and muscle strength–especially for at-risk joints–slow the progression of degenerative arthritis. Yoga classes and moderate weight lifting programs are excellent ways to improve strength and flexibility. Bodywork can also provide relief.

If arthritis is slowing you down, get serious with your exercise plan. Consult your physician, work with a professional trainer, physical therapist, yoga instructor, or bodyworker, and start a gentle, progressive exercise program. Your joints will reward you for it, and you’ll free yourself from arthritic pain.

-ABMP

Here are the methods I employed and found helpful:

• Drink water!  I cannot emphasize this point enough!  Chronic dehydration comes in many forms (a dry mouth is not the only symptom/sign), back pain is one of them.  Just consider how much weight your joints and discs hold, and the primary weight bearing constituent is water!  The actual tissue itself composes only 25% of the weight bearing capacity.
• Strengthen core muscles and gluteals.  Weak muscles leave more room for injury from daily activities such as sitting.  By doing weight bearing activities, you are teaching your muscles how to properly behave.  I personally found the leg press most beneficial.
• Back bends.  If you find these painful, take a yoga class that offers guidance and ways to adapt the move.  You won’t be sorry, I promise.
• Stretch!  Stretch daily.  Another must do.  Do it at home, go to a yoga class, get a Thai massage- but just do it!  The most helpful stretches I found were:
  • Child’s pose (kneel on floor with chest resting on knees and head on floor)
  • Figure 4/ Threading the Needle (cross right ankle over left knee and pull in left knee towards chest.  Reverse)
  • Runner’s Stretch (While standing, cross right ankle over left and touch toes.  Switch.)
• Get a massage.  Any kind will do, from anyone.  Body work helps relieve pain by relaxing muscles and helping to reduce spasms, untraps strangulated nerves, lengthens and repositions tissues in the body, and increases pain killing hormones.
• And last but not least- move!  Get out and go for a walk- especially if you are in a job that requires sitting most of the day.  Remind your body what it’s really meant to do, and activate your natural pain killing hormones.

And remember, consistency is key.  One day of drinking water or a one time massage is not going to fix a problem that has probably taken months, if not years, to surface.  Be kind to yourself, but be diligent.  Relief is possible!

There is scientific proof that massage is more beneficial than simply for relaxation.  These benefits range from chronic diseases and injuries to extreme emotional imbalances.  This is because there are specific physiological and psychological changes that occur within the body, especially if massage is used as a preventative, frequent therapy.

As published in Body Sense magazine, Fall 2001: “The incredible benefits of massage are doubly powerful if taken in regular “doses.” Dr. Maria Hernandez-Reif, from the Touch Research Institute (TRI) at the University of Miami, is known for her massage research, along with colleague Tiffany Field. Together, they and other researchers have done outstanding work proving the value of massage. While their studies have shown we can benefit from massage even in small doses (15 minutes of chair massage or a half-hour table session), Hernandez-Reif says they know from their research that receiving bodywork 2-3 times a week is highly beneficial.”

While we may not all have the time nor finances to support 2-3 massages a week, at the very least one a month can provide healing work.  This is because the body has a natural and innate ability to heal itself.  By receiving bodywork, one helps to boost the circulatory and lymph systems which therefore improves your immune response and speeds recovery of physical ailments.  This is because more oxygen and nutrients are being pumped to tissues and vital organs, while at the same time helping to move out the toxins.  This also means that there is decreased necessity for medication and hospital visits in one’s lifetime!

Still not convinced.  Buy one of our packages and experience the benefits yourself!  We are currently offering the following:

Buy 4 massages, get 1 free ($70 savings)

Buy 7 massages, get 2 free  ($140 savings)

Buy 12 massages, get 3 free  ($210 savings)

And enjoy!

Below is a partial list of the benefits of a Swedish massage:

• improves skin condition (because stimulates sebaceous glands, improving texture and tone of skin)
• relaxes muscles (because affects nervous system)
• enhances circulation
• facilitates venous return
• spcifically/locally encourages hyperemia (plentiful blood supply) by opening capillary beds
• turnover of circulatory supply is enhanced. Ischemic tissue (tissue poorly supplied with blood) is relieved of pain and toxicity
• facilitates lymphatic return,
• untraps strangulated nerves
• lengthening and repositioning connective, muscular, and epithelial tissues- proprioceptors send message to brain about body structure- perception of body weight, shape, consistency, balance changes
• new posture- lengthens and repositions connective, muscular,nervous, and epithelial tissues therefore the way body segments relate to one another changes, and gravity is altered.
• lengthening and repositioning alters the way one moves= decompressed joints, improved posture, higher quality of movement
• new emotions/associations, alters emotional environment due to new or higher quality of touch
• working in areas of old trauma may release emotions and memories that allow for new integration with the experience
• increases serotonin and endorphins (1,000 times more powerful than morphine)
• a sense that change is possible, gives hope
• “being touched may evoke the experience of life beyond one’s personality, the experience of life as a gift, the vital spirit we partake of.”
• experience of touch can equal transpersonal experience
• enhance self esteem, reduce feelings of isolation and overwhelm