Can the Bar Method help with arthritis?
According to the Arthritis Foundation, “…exercise is an essential tool in managing your arthritis” because it “…reduces joint pain and stiffness, builds strong muscle around the joints, and increases flexibility and endurance.”
Experts recommend three kinds of non-impact exercise for patients with arthritis:
- stretching, which helps maintain joint flexibility and reach;
- isometrics, which increase strength with little or no movement, and
- aerobics such as walking or swimming to improve heart and lung fitness.
The Bar Method gives you the first two exercise elements in its workout: stretching and isometrics. And it’s especially easy on your joints because you’re doing non-impact exercises on a padded carpet.
Students with arthritis have used the Bar Method over the years both to reduce their pain and to increase their quality of life. Bar Method students with arthritis swear by its unique ability to free them from pain.
So if you do have arthritis and want to try the Bar Method, listen to the options the teacher gives during each exercise and take the one that feels right for your body. Also as needed take brief rests throughout the workout. If your joints begin to act up, take a break from class altogether until you feel better. Within these parameters, it’s hard to beat the Bar Method as a joint-friendly fitness option.
Before trying the Bar Method or any workout, check with your doctor! You may have a severe case and need another kind of class, such as water aerobics.
As for other kinds of aerobic exercise, avoid tennis and jogging, and stick with walking or swimming! Above all, keep exercising! You’ll add years, and better-lived years, to your life.
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