Many people think that exercise as an osteoarthritis treatment must be tough. But that is not true. If you have osteoarthritis in the hip or knee, doing very simple exercises for 5 minutes a day is enough to reduce joint pain and notice a big difference in both well-being and everyday life.
Hip and knee are more often affected by osteoarthritis
It is most common to get osteoarthritis in the hip joint or the knee joint. This is believed to be due to the fact that our knees and hips are load-bearing joints that carry quite a lot of our body weight, and can therefore be affected extra by faulty loads. It is above all common to suffer from knee osteoarthritis because the knee is very unprotected, without much muscle around it.
Osteoarthritis can actually occur in any joint in the body. It is relatively common to have osteoarthritis in the fingers, hands, toes and ankles. Shoulders, neck and spine can also be affected, although less often.
The treatment with the best results
Common osteoarthritis symptoms are stiffness and joint pain. But fortunately, it is possible to reduce the discomfort to a very large extent, and maintain an active everyday life. Adapted, specific exercise has been shown to relieve hip and knee osteoarthritis the best.
But if you have joint pain, the thought of exercise and physical activity can feel overwhelming. It can be difficult to find forms of exercise that feel right. It is important to know that long, hard training sessions are NOT required to alleviate osteoarthritis. According to solid research, very simple training, which is carried out often, is enough to alleviate the symptoms of osteoarthritis in the long term.
“With osteoarthritis, it is enough for you to do exercises 5-10 minutes a day, 5 days a week for you to get better. You don’t have to go to the gym and overwork” – Leif Dahlberg, senior professor of orthopedics
Physiotherapy – digital or physical
Since adapted training has been shown to give the best results, the National Institute of Excellence (NICE) recommends that everyone with osteoarthritis in the hip and knee should be offered this treatment in the first place. The treatment can be given through physiotherapy, which can take place both physically and digitally. According to studies, digital physiotherapy for people with symptoms of osteoarthritis gives just as good results as physical treatment.
When treating osteoarthritis with exercise, the patient receives an individual exercise program with a couple of exercises. The exercises are adapted to which joint is affected. For osteoarthritis training, it is always best to receive personal supervision from a physiotherapist, who can provide help and support during the course of treatment.
Simple exercises relieve the symptoms
It is clinically proven that very simple exercises, which only take about 5 minutes a day to do, are enough to provide long-term pain relief. Many even become pain-free. However, it is important to incorporate your training routine into your everyday life and do the exercises regularly, in order to both maintain and increase your progress. Here, most people think 5 minutes a day is much easier to maintain than long sessions a couple of times a week.
“These small simple exercises changed my life. It’s so much better in the knees. I can continue with my leisure interests without problems” – Lars, patient at Joint Academy.
By exercising the muscles around the affected joint, the joint gradually becomes more stable, and mobility and muscle strength increase. This reduces pain and stiffness. The training also improves the function of the joint and stimulates the cartilage to become healthier.
Get exercise programs for hip and knee osteoarthritis
If you want to treat osteoarthritis in the hip or knee, you can get digital treatment from home via Joint Academy. With Joint Academy, you get a clinically proven training program with exercises directly to your mobile phone. You also get access to a personal physiotherapist who provides support throughout the treatment. Your physiotherapist will help you adapt your training program to your conditions and goals.
Joint Academy’s treatments follow the National Institute of Excellence guidelines, and there is no waiting time to get started.
Sources
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Osteoarthritis. Nice.org.uk.
