Planning strength exercises for people with arthritis By Mark Richards, MS, PT

Arthritic pain. Does arthritis conjure up thoughts of discomfort and the need to decrease activity and increase rest? Understandably, those are natural responses to pain. Often, patients and clients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are advised to slow down, to take it easy, and certainly to avoid any significant activity for the involved joints. But, is it possible those recommendations do more harm than good? The answer from the research appears to be “yes.”