Does Yoga Help with Arthritis?
Exercise keeps arthritic joints limber, yet the wrong type of exercise can worsen symptoms. Low-impact, joint-friendly yoga offers an excellent way to reduce arthritis pain and stiffness.
How Arthritis Affects Your Joints
Swollen, stiff, painful joints are a problem whether you have osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or another form of the common joint disease. Osteoarthritis occurs when the rubbery cartilage at the ends of bones wears away, while rheumatoid arthritis happens due to joint lining inflammation and cartilage damage.
Cartilage protects and cushions the bones and is necessary for smooth, painless movement of the joints. When the cartilage is damaged or worn away, the ends of the bones rub together, causing pain and inflammation.
Although anyone can develop arthritis, your risk increases with age. Just 3.6% of people ages 18 - 34 have arthritis, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The number rises to 53.9% in people 75 and older.
No matter what your age, arthritis can have a devastating effect on your life. It may be difficult to walk, use your laptop, or work out when your joints hurt. Unfortunately, skipping exercise may lead to a host of other health complications. Excess weight can further stress joints, causing even more pain, in addition to increasing your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and other health conditions.
Protecting your Joints from Arthritis
Although the damage caused by arthritis can't be reversed, practicing yoga can help you manage your symptoms. Unlike other forms of exercise, there's no jumping or high-impact movements in yoga that could worsen arthritis. No matter how severe your symptoms are, you'll enjoy these benefits when you practice yoga:
- Stronger Muscles. Pressure on the joints increases when surrounding muscles are weak. Yoga involves slow, deliberate movements that strengthen muscles while improving flexibility. Want to strengthen your muscles? Try downward-facing dog, high lunge, chair, and warrior poses.
- Less Inflammation. Yoga helps your body control inflammation naturally. In addition to regulating inflammatory markers, it also decreases cortisol levels. Cortisol, a hormone that helps your body respond to stress, doesn't always drop when you feel less stressed. Unfortunately, high cortisol levels can lead to chronic inflammation that affects your entire body. A systematic review published in Biological Research for Nursing noted a positive effect on inflammation in research participants who practiced yoga. Legs up the wall, wide-legged forward bend and child's pose could help you reduce inflammation that triggers joint pain, swelling, and stiffness.
- Better Flexibility. Your normal range of motion may decrease when your joints stiffen. The flowing movements used in yoga poses gently stretch muscles, improving flexibility. Worried that you'll never be able to master yoga poses because you're just too stiff? Your yoga instructor can show you how to use yoga blocks, bolsters, and straps to make it easier to perform poses. Good poses for flexibility include cat/cow, head-to-toe, child's pose and triangle pose.
- Straighter Posture. Your posture may suffer when your joints are sore and stiff. Just like excess weight, poor posture stresses the joints and may affect your arthritis symptoms. Relieving stiffness with yoga could help you stand straight and tall. Downward-facing dog, tiger, cobra, bridge and cat/cow poses are good choices if you've noticed changes in your posture.
- Improved Synovial Fluid Flow. Synovial fluid circulates around your joints and helps the bones in the joints glide smoothly when you move. Practicing yoga improves synovial fluid circulation, which can ease stiffness and inflammation. All yoga poses will help keep your synovial fluid flowing freely.
Ready to find out how yoga can improve your arthritis symptoms? Contact us for information about our yoga classes.
Sources:
CDC: National Center for Health Statistics: Arthritis in Adults Age 18 and Older: United States 2022, 2/2024
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db497.htm
Biological Research for Nursing: Impact of Yoga on Inflammation Biomarkers: A Systematic Review, 3/2019
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6700894/
Harvard Health Publishing: Yoga Could Slow the Harmful Effects of Stress and Inflammation, 8/10/2020
Yoga Journal: Skip the Gym. These Are the Best Yoga Poses for Strength, 8/9/2024
https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/types/strength/yoga-poses-for-strength/
Arthritis Foundation: Yoga Benefits for Arthritis
Prevention: How Practicing Yoga Can Help Relieve Your Arthritis Pain Naturally, 8/25/2022
https://www.prevention.com/health/a35843625/yoga-for-arthritis/
American College of Rheumatology: Exercise and Arthritis, 2023