Seniors Health 101: Basic Exercises for Elderly Person With Arthritis

Arthritis is a common ailment during golden age. Sure, there are plenty of over-the-counter medications for arthritis claiming to ease the pain associated to it but these medicines cannot cure arthritis permanently. If you are taking care of an elderly with arthritis, there are simple things you can do to help relieve the burden brought by this kind of illness.

Exercise offers tons of benefits to people of any age. So why not try this technique in dealing with arthritis? There are basic forms of exercises suitable for elderly. Let your senior perform these exercises to improve muscle strength and ease joint pain. Lack of physical activity is the usual triggering factor of arthritis especially during cold months. Start your daily dose of exercise program to help the senior fight off arthritis.

• Neck Exercise

Performing neck exercises can help the senior improve neck flexibility. This form of exercise can be done either standing or sitting on a chair. With a straight back, let your elderly do head turns. Performing head turns is very simple. Just ask your senior to look straight forward and hold for a few seconds then slowly turning to the side, look back again to the front then turning to the other side. Have at least five repetitions on each side.

• Hand and Shoulder Exercise

Considering that hands are used every single day for different activities, your senior will never find it hard to do some hand exercises. As simple as closing and opening the fingers is already a good activity to reduce the joint pain in that particular area. Slowly close the fingers and hold for a couple of minutes then open the hand, and repeat again. Let your senior do this to both hands for at least five times.

For the shoulders, ask your elderly to move both shoulders slowly in circular motion. Do at least three circles clockwise then counterclockwise. Stretching both hands forward and upward can also flex those muscles.

• Knee Exercise

Arthritis usually affects the hip down to the knee part. That is why knee exercise is beneficial to this section of the body. In this exercise, senior must stand straight with feet close together. Let your senior bends his/her knees. Ask him/her to stretch out both hands towards the knees and hold them. Just like the shoulder exercise, move the knees in circular motion. Senior must do at least five circles clockwise and counterclockwise. Bending the knees can greatly benefit the hip muscle.

• Walking Exercise

As always, walking is considered as the best and simplest form of exercise. Accompany your senior in walking around the neighborhood. Walking benefits different parts of the body specifically the legs. This form of exercise also improve the endurance of the senior. Spend at least 10 minutes of walking then slowly increase it to about half an hour. Make sure your senior wears comfortable pair of shoes.

Exercises are not treatment for arthritis rather they can help keep the joints of the seniors flexible. Being physically active will likely lessen the pain of arthritis. But remember that seniors are no longer capable of doing every form of exercise. The above mentioned exercises are just gentle and basic, which mean they are not difficult to perform. Be sure to assist your senior in case he/she needs assistance. If you need to leave your elderly for a while, do not forget to leave an alert system for emergency situation.