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MOST Important Exercise To Master If You Have Arthritis!
- chelsie462
- Jun 5
- 6 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in July 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/JiRpEPLy_5g
Mike: If you're limited on time or ambition, but want to focus on one exercise for your arthritic pain, this is the one for you.
Brad: Yeah. Now this exercise is really beneficial, particularly for people who have their arthritic pain in their low back, in the SI joint just below the belt, the hip, or the knees.
Mike: So the exercise we're talking about is actually a form of squat, but we're going to do a slight variation of that, right, Brad?
Brad: Right. And actually, these exercises strengthen the muscles that support the joint that has the arthritis, so the force is going through the muscles as opposed to the irritated joint.
Mike: So this can help reduce the pain you're having in your extremities or lower back and improve your mobility.
Brad: Almost sounds too good to be true, but it works.
Mike: First, we want to discuss why regular squats don't always do the trick. Now they are a good functional exercise when performed properly. However, when you have arthritis or pain in the region, you typically will compensate with your weaker leg, say my right leg is my weak one. By using your strong leg more, what that may look like when you stand up as you start going up, and then you just go all the way to the left side, and get all the way up.
Mike: Can you get from sitting to standing that way? Sure. However, you're going to start developing more and more imbalances on your weak arthritic side, which can lead to more problems down the road.
Brad: Right. And I want to emphasize that if you're doing a squat using a chair to start or a standard squat using weights or whatever, and you're used to doing them, and the arthritic side has always been painful, you probably are compensating using the strong, non-painful side without even being aware of it. Now, the really bad thing that can happen as a result of compensating because you have some arthritic joints on one side, it can carry over into your walking pattern, or your gait, as we call it in therapy. And you can develop what is known as a Trendelenburg gait. It's when you have this waddling type of gait, and you see a number of people with that, and that can be a result of an arthritic joint causing the imbalance.
Brad: All right, now one of the common muscles that gets involved with compensation as a result of arthritic pain is the gluteus maximus. This happens with other syndromes as well. They call it gluteal amnesia. In other words, that muscle does not start the fire or contract properly, causing problems. Mike, do you want to explain how it all works?
Mike: So what can happen? There's an array of issues, can happen from weak glutes. One is known as femoral anterior glide syndrome, meaning the head of your femur here actually gets pushed forward, or anterior in the acetabulum or the hip socket joint here.
Mike: This can lead to a lot of pinching sensations, pain issues, and more arthritis developing. Other issues that may happen from weak glutes are actually a valgus knee stance. So that can mean your knock-kneed or your knees point in together.
Mike: For some people, it can actually do various things depending on the individual and how they look. Also, if your glutes are weak, you can actually lock your knees, which is also problematic for arthritic people.
Brad: That's right. That puts the joint at end range, we call it, and more force goes into that joint, causing bone-on-bone problems eventually. So I did want to mention we're talking about glute maximum, that big muscle right in the back, the other ones are involved as well, but that's the primary muscle. Alright, we're going to start out showing how to do this exercise properly. We're going to do it from a sit to stand, which is essentially a squat, but it's for someone who has pain or is a beginner and doesn't have the strength. Mike, can you go ahead and show the details?
Mike: So you want to start sitting in a chair, have a 90-degree bend in your legs, and we're going to work both sides individually. So we're just going to start working on my left side first. Now, what I'm going to do is leave the left foot down flat on the ground. My other leg, my right one, I'm going to go up on my toes. This is going to help me keep my balance as I stand. If you're really weak and need to push up from the chair with armrests, you certainly can. However, what we're going to do is put the emphasis of using the left leg to actually stand up. This is going to work the left leg more. The right leg is just doing balance. Now, what you want to do is do five, 10 repetitions this way, and then you're going to switch. So you're going to plant with the right leg, and toe touch with the left leg. Again, you're going to try to do 10 repetitions. This is going to teach you to work both legs individually. And you might notice one is weaker than the other.
Brad: The idea of using a chair with armrests, particularly if you haven't done this before, is a really good idea; it's going to help you be stable and give you a good experience so you don't overdo things.
Mike: Now, if this seems easy for you and you want to be a little more advanced or challenge yourself, what you can do with the leg that isn't pushing up is place it out more in front of you, keeping it straight. This is really working my back leg. And also, it's important to focus on sitting down in a nice, slow, controlled motion. You don't want to be plopping down into the chair, because muscles work going up as well as going down.
Brad: Right. Boy, I can't emphasize that enough, the idea of when you go down, very good control, you may need the armrest. You see, I'm reaching back. I know where they're at, so we don't have a plop. Again, the whole idea is to train the muscles to work properly, doing one at a time. Go through them. Take your time with these. The first time you do it, it's gonna feel awkward and you may say some bad words, but it's okay. Just continue. Use your armrest, and we actually have another video that's going to help and give some other options. Is that correct, Mike?
Mike: Yes, it's another video, "Stop Arthritic Joint Pain, No Meds Needed!" A completely different video talking about another subject matter within arthritis.
Brad: There you go. Enjoy the day and keep those joints settled down.
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