Living with arthritis does not mean you have to stop doing the things you enjoy. Joint pain, stiffness, weakness, and difficulty moving can certainly make everyday activities harder. You may notice discomfort when getting out of a chair, walking through the grocery store, climbing stairs, exercising, gardening, or simply getting moving first thing in the morning. When joints hurt, the natural response is often to use them less. But avoiding movement altogether can sometimes create another problem. Muscles may become weaker, joints can feel stiffer, balance may decline, and everyday activities can gradually become more difficult.
A better approach to arthritis management and joint protection is learning how to move safely, strengthen the muscles that support your joints, reduce unnecessary stress on painful areas, and stay as active as your body comfortably allows. Physical therapy can also help identify movement problems that may be placing additional stress on your joints and create a personalized plan designed around your abilities and goals.
What Is Arthritis?
Arthritis is a broad term used to describe conditions affecting the joints and surrounding tissues. There are many different forms of arthritis, and they do not all develop or behave in the same way. One of the most common types is osteoarthritis, which occurs as tissues within a joint change over time. Osteoarthritis commonly affects the knees, hips, hands, neck, and lower back.
People with osteoarthritis may experience:
- Joint pain
- Stiffness after sitting or resting
- Reduced range of motion
- Swelling
- Weakness around the affected joint
- Difficulty walking or completing everyday activities
- Changes in the way a joint moves or feels
Osteoarthritis affects people differently. Some people experience mild symptoms, while others find that arthritis significantly affects their ability to stay active. Other types of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, involve different disease processes and may require specialized medical management. If you have unexplained or worsening joint symptoms, it is important to speak with an appropriate healthcare provider rather than assuming arthritis is the cause.
Why Movement Matters When You Have Arthritis
It may sound backward: if movement hurts, shouldn’t you rest the joint? Sometimes temporary rest is appropriate, especially after unusually strenuous activity or during certain medical conditions. But completely avoiding movement for long periods is usually not the best strategy for maintaining joint function.
Regular physical activity can help maintain flexibility, muscle strength, endurance, balance, and the ability to perform everyday activities. Exercise is an important part of osteoarthritis management and can help decrease joint pain and stiffness while improving function. The important part is finding the right amount and type of movement for you. That may look different for someone with knee arthritis compared with someone experiencing arthritis in the hands, hips, spine, or multiple joints. This is one reason personalized care can be so valuable.
What Does Joint Protection Mean?
Joint protection does not mean avoiding use of your joints. Instead, it means learning ways to complete everyday activities while reducing unnecessary strain on irritated or vulnerable joints. Think of it as working smarter with your body.
Joint protection techniques may involve changing how you lift something, adjusting your posture, using stronger muscles to perform a task, taking appropriate breaks, improving your workspace, or using an assistive device when needed. These small changes can add up throughout the day.
For example, repeatedly performing an activity with poor mechanics may place unnecessary stress on a painful knee, hip, shoulder, hand, or spinal joint. Improving movement patterns may help distribute forces more effectively. The goal is not to become afraid of movement. The goal is to move confidently and efficiently.
1. Keep Your Body Moving
One of the most important parts of arthritis management is regular movement. That does not mean you need to perform intense workouts. Activities may include walking, cycling, swimming, water exercise, gentle mobility work, strength training, or other forms of low-impact exercise that are appropriate for your abilities.
Water-based exercise can be especially helpful for some people because the water supports part of your body weight, reducing stress on weight-bearing joints while still allowing you to move and strengthen your muscles. Starting gradually is important. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases recommends talking with your healthcare provider or physical therapist about a safe exercise program that may include flexibility, strengthening, balance, and low-impact aerobic activity. You do not have to become an athlete. Consistency matters more than trying to do too much at once.
2. Strengthen the Muscles That Support Your Joints
Your muscles play an important role in supporting and controlling your joints. For example, the muscles around your hips and knees help manage the forces your lower body experiences while standing, walking, climbing stairs, and getting up from a chair. When those muscles become weak, everyday activities may feel harder.
Strengthening may improve your body’s ability to support an arthritic joint and help you continue performing important activities. However, arthritis does not affect everyone in the same way. A strengthening program that works well for one person may not be the right starting point for another. A licensed physical therapist can evaluate your strength, mobility, balance, walking pattern, functional abilities, and goals before creating a personalized plan.
3. Avoid the “Too Much, Then Nothing” Cycle
A common pattern with arthritis is doing very little on painful days, feeling better, and then trying to catch up on everything at once. You clean the entire house. Spend several hours doing yard work. Walk much farther than usual. Or complete every errand in one afternoon. Then your joints become irritated and you spend the next day or two barely moving. This can create a frustrating cycle.
Instead, try thinking about pacing. Spread demanding activities throughout the day or week when possible. Alternate more strenuous activities with easier ones. Take breaks before you are completely exhausted rather than waiting until your pain forces you to stop.
The goal is to maintain a more consistent activity level instead of swinging between overactivity and prolonged inactivity.
4. Reduce Repetitive Joint Stress
Repetition can matter just as much as the amount of force placed on a joint. Performing the same motion hundreds of times may irritate a sensitive area even when each individual movement seems small. Consider your everyday routine.
Do you repeatedly bend down while gardening? Carry heavy bags using one hand? Spend hours in the same sitting position? Use the same arm for repetitive work? Climb stairs unnecessarily throughout the day?
Joint protection may involve modifying some of these routines. NIAMS includes avoiding repetitive motions and using appropriate assistive devices among strategies that may help people living with osteoarthritis. You don’t necessarily need to eliminate an activity. Sometimes changing how often, how long, or how you perform it can make a meaningful difference.
5. Use Larger, Stronger Joints When Appropriate
When possible, distributing a task across larger muscles and joints can reduce excessive strain on smaller joints. For example, someone experiencing hand arthritis may benefit from adaptive tools with larger handles rather than tightly gripping a small object.
Helpful tools may include:
- Jar-opening devices
- Larger handles or grips
- Lightweight cookware
- Rolling carts
- Long-handled tools
- Supportive rails
- Reachers
- Other adaptive household devices
NIAMS specifically notes that devices designed to improve grip and assist with activities of daily living can be helpful for some people with arthritis. Using a helpful tool is not “giving in” to arthritis. It is simply another way to protect your joints while maintaining independence.
6. Pay Attention to Your Posture and Movement Patterns
Arthritis pain does not always come down to the joint alone. The way your body moves can influence how forces travel through that joint.
For example, hip weakness may change the way someone walks. Limited ankle mobility may affect how forces move through the knee. Poor balance may cause someone to move more cautiously or rely excessively on one side of the body. Your posture during sitting, standing, lifting, reaching, and walking may also affect how your body distributes load. A physical therapy evaluation looks beyond the location of discomfort.
At Hohman Rehab & Sports Therapy, our licensed physical therapists evaluate how your entire body is moving and create a personalized plan based on your individual limitations and goals. Finding contributing factors can be an important part of improving movement and protecting painful joints.
7. Maintain a Healthy Body Weight When Appropriate
Body weight can influence the amount of stress placed on weight-bearing joints such as the knees and hips. For people who are overweight, weight management may be one part of an overall strategy for improving mobility and reducing stress on these joints. NIAMS notes that weight management can help decrease stress on joints and may improve pain and mobility for some people with osteoarthritis.
However, arthritis management should not focus on a number on the scale alone. Strength, mobility, activity level, sleep, nutrition, medical conditions, and individual health goals all matter. The goal should always be supporting your overall health and helping you remain active.
8. Wear Supportive Footwear
Your feet provide the foundation for many everyday movements. Shoes that fit well and provide appropriate support may make walking and standing more comfortable for some people, especially when arthritis affects the feet, ankles, knees, or hips.
In certain situations, a healthcare professional may also recommend an orthotic, brace, cane, walker, or another supportive device. These devices should fit properly and be used appropriately. A physical therapist can help assess mobility and determine whether a device may improve safety, confidence, or movement.
9. Don’t Ignore Balance
Arthritis may indirectly affect balance. Pain can cause you to favor one leg. Weakness can make standing and walking more difficult. Reduced activity may further decrease strength and confidence.
For older adults in particular, maintaining balance and lower-body strength is an important part of staying independent. Physical therapy can evaluate factors including strength, walking, coordination, mobility, and balance. A personalized program may then address the areas that are limiting safe movement. Protecting your joints is important. Protecting your ability to stay active and independent is just as important.
10. Learn the Difference Between Discomfort and Warning Signs
Not every sensation during physical activity means you are damaging your joints. At the same time, significant changes in symptoms should not simply be ignored. New or worsening swelling, redness, warmth, severe pain, significant loss of function, unexplained weakness, or other concerning symptoms should be discussed with an appropriate healthcare provider.
Inflammatory arthritis conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis are especially important to identify and medically manage appropriately because early treatment may help reduce future joint damage. If you are unsure whether an activity is appropriate for you, talk with your physician or physical therapist.
How Physical Therapy Can Help With Arthritis
Physical therapy is about much more than simply exercising a painful joint. A licensed physical therapist can evaluate how arthritis is affecting your overall movement and function.
Depending on your individual needs, an evaluation may look at:
- Joint mobility
- Muscle strength
- Flexibility
- Balance
- Walking
- Posture
- Movement patterns
- Ability to climb stairs
- Ability to get up and down from a chair
- Ability to perform work, household, or recreational activities
- Activities you have stopped doing because of pain
From there, your physical therapist can create a personalized plan of care based on what matters most to you.
Maybe your goal is walking around the neighborhood again. Maybe you want to play golf. Maybe you need to comfortably get up and down from the floor to play with your grandchildren. Maybe stairs have become difficult. Or perhaps you simply want to move through your day without constantly thinking about your joints.
Those goals matter. At Hohman Rehab, our approach focuses on helping people understand their bodies, improve movement, build strength, and develop strategies they can continue using outside the clinic.
Should You Stop Exercising Because You Have Arthritis?
In many cases, no. Having arthritis does not automatically mean exercise is unsafe. In fact, appropriate physical activity is commonly recommended as part of arthritis management because it can help maintain strength, flexibility, mobility, and function. The key word is appropriate. Someone who has not exercised in years should probably not start with the same program as someone who regularly walks three miles.
Someone recovering from joint replacement surgery may have different needs than someone managing mild osteoarthritis. And someone with an inflammatory arthritis condition may need additional guidance from their medical team. Your program should match your body, your current abilities, and your goals.
Arthritis Doesn’t Have to Define Your Activity Level
It is easy to begin thinking:
“My knee is bad.”
“My hips are worn out.”
“I shouldn’t exercise anymore.”
“I’m just getting older.”
Those beliefs can gradually lead people to stop doing things they actually enjoy.
Arthritis may require you to make adjustments, but adjustment does not have to mean giving up activity.
Learning how to manage joint stress, improve strength, maintain mobility, and move more efficiently can help you stay involved in your everyday life.
The goal of arthritis management is not simply avoiding pain.
It is helping you maintain the ability to move, participate, and remain independent.
Frequently Asked Questions About Arthritis Management and Joint Protection
Is walking good for arthritis?
Walking can be a helpful form of low-impact physical activity for many people with arthritis. The appropriate distance and intensity depend on your symptoms, health, current activity level, and the joints involved. If walking consistently causes significant discomfort or you have concerns about your gait or balance, a physical therapist can evaluate your movement.
Can physical therapy help arthritis pain?
Physical therapists help people with arthritis improve mobility, strength, balance, function, and movement strategies. Because arthritis affects everyone differently, your therapist should first perform an evaluation and create a personalized plan of care.
Should I rest when arthritis hurts?
Some temporary activity modification may be helpful when symptoms increase, but avoiding movement for long periods can contribute to stiffness and weakness. Finding the right balance between movement, activity modification, and recovery is important.
What are the best exercises for arthritis?
There is no single exercise program that is best for everyone. Low-impact cardiovascular activity, mobility work, strengthening, and balance exercises may all be appropriate depending on the individual. Your physical therapist can help determine which activities fit your needs.
What are joint protection techniques?
Joint protection techniques are ways of completing daily activities while reducing unnecessary stress on sensitive joints. Examples can include pacing activities, avoiding excessive repetitive movements, improving body mechanics, changing how an activity is performed, or using adaptive tools when appropriate.
Take the Next Step Toward Moving Better
If arthritis or ongoing joint discomfort is making it harder to walk, exercise, work, climb stairs, or enjoy your normal activities, you do not have to simply accept becoming less active.
A physical therapy evaluation can help identify areas of weakness, stiffness, balance difficulty, or inefficient movement that may be contributing to your limitations.
At Hohman Rehab & Sports Therapy, our licensed physical therapists provide personalized, one-on-one care and develop an individualized plan based on your needs and goals.
Our goal is to help you move better, feel stronger, protect your independence, and continue doing more of the activities that matter to you.
Hohman Rehab & Sports Therapy Locations
Clermont
236 Mohawk Rd.
Clermont, FL 34715
📞 (352) 404-6908
📠 (352) 404-6909
Ocoee
11095 W. Colonial Dr.
Ocoee, FL 34761
📞 (407) 347-8936
📠 (352) 404-6909
Apopka
125 S. Park Ave.
Apopka, FL 32703
📞 (407) 410-3200
📠 (352) 404-6909
🌐 Website: www.hohmanrehab.com
Visit www.hohmanrehab.com to learn more or schedule an appointment and let us help you on your path to wellness.
This article is for general educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose or treat a medical condition. If you have new, severe, or worsening joint symptoms, speak with an appropriate healthcare provider.
Written By:
Dr. Katie Hohman, PT, DPT, CLT
Physical Therapist, Certified Lymphedema Therapist, Founder
