It's no secret that exercise has myriad health benefits, including improving heart function, reducing the risk for stroke, lowering blood pressure, increasing HDL (good) cholesterol and facilitating weight loss.

But did you know that exercise helps ease the suffering of people in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis?

In a recent study, 300 rheumatoid arthritis patients were assigned to either an exercise or physical therapy program over a two-year period. The exercise training program included 20 minutes of weight training, 20 minutes of bike riding and 20 minutes engaged in a sport, such as badminton, volleyball, soccer or basketball.

The exercise group showed significant improvements in levels of aerobic fitness over the physical therapy group; in fact, the fitness level of the physical therapy group actually decreased. Additionally, the exercise group showed emotional improvement over their physical therapy counterparts, and demonstrated more optimism.

If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis or any other debilitating musculoskeletal or immune-related condition, talk to your chiropractor about designing an exercise plan suitable to your needs, and how chiropractic care an benefit you.

Reference:

De Jong Z. Arthritis & Rheumatism September 2003:48, pp 2451-2424.

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