Osteoarthritis is a common widespread condition. The risk of osteoarthritis increases, especially with age. It is the most common degenerative joint disease in Germany: according to the Deutsche Arthrose-Hilfe, around 5 million women and men are affected, with the condition occurring slightly more often in women than in men. Exercise and especially strength sports can help prevent it from getting that far in the first place. It primarily serves as a preventive measure to sustainably strengthen muscles, tendons, and joints. But even for those already affected, strength training and physical activity can be a positive step toward relieving symptoms.
What is osteoarthritis and what are the symptoms?
With osteoarthritis, the soft cartilage layer surrounding each of our bones becomes thinner and more porous, so that in the worst case, bone eventually rubs against bone. Moving the joint then causes pain. The knees, knuckles, ankles, and hips are particularly affected. At first, the affected body part only hurts when it is moved again after a period of rest. Later, when bone rubs on bone and the joint cartilage is worn down, inflammation occurs in the area, and the pain often becomes constant. The joint then gets hot and swollen, patients often experience a severely reduced quality of life, and a long cycle of doctor visits begins.
Risk factors for osteoarthritis
First of all, there is a completely natural factor: increasing age. Joint wear and tear is part of the aging process. In addition, there are other factors such as extreme stress, an accident or malalignment, overweight, or certain metabolic diseases. Young people can also be affected by osteoarthritis, but in most cases, it occurs later in life.
Exercise or rest with osteoarthritis?
Contrary to the common belief that resting the joint is best, gentle movement is actually the better approach. Many studies support this. Once a joint is affected by progressive osteoarthritis, the patient often suffers from severe pain and functional limitations. As a result, they move even less and try to avoid pain through compensatory movements. But movement and exercise are precisely what can help patients relieve symptoms and, in the best case, even halt wear and tear. Therefore, staying active early on is an important step to keep joints flexible for as long as possible and prevent osteoarthritis from developing in the first place.
Preventing osteoarthritis: Getting moving
The basic principle behind preventing osteoarthritis through exercise is to strengthen and build up the entire musculoskeletal system through regular movement and targeted training, providing strong support for joints that might be affected later. If the muscles, tendons, and ligaments surrounding the joint are supple and strong, they relieve strain on the joint and articular cartilage. If you don't move your muscular and joint system, however, this encourages misalignments and progressive wear and tear. It makes sense—yet in times of increasing desk jobs, a lack of movement is everywhere. That makes it all the more important to actively take care of your health!
Strength training as osteoarthritis prevention?
Strength training in particular is a great option to keep your joints healthy and maintain their full range of motion. Beginners can also comfortably start on guided machines. However, it is important to keep the following in mind:
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Adapt your workout to your individual needs: Every body is different, so it's important to choose exercises that train your muscles without putting so much stress on your joints that it turns into pain.
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There should be no joint pain after your workout. If there is, the workout was too intense and should be adjusted downwards next time.
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Start slowly and increase the intensity carefully. Anything else is unwise and ineffective.
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Multi-joint exercises are often better because the weight is distributed across several joints rather than putting isolated stress on just one.
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Warm-ups and stretching exercises are important, so feel free to include them in every workout. This is especially true for early or advanced osteoarthritis, as they prepare and warm up the joints.
Osteoarthritis prevention training: suitable exercises and equipment
To put together a joint-friendly workout as effectively as possible, there are machines and exercises you should rather avoid and those that are well suited. All exercises that jar the joints or suddenly put extremely heavy stress on them are rather unsuitable. This means exercises like jumping jacks, jumping rope, or exercises in general that put heavy, sudden stress on the knees or ankles are out. The treadmill is better suited, especially walking, which is gentler on the joints. Pay attention to a well-cushioned running surface. The cross trainer, the ergometer, or an elliptical trainer are also good machines to warm up before your strength training session. All of them focus on multi-joint, large ranges of motion, which protects your joints. During the workout itself, multi-joint exercises are also the ones you should preferably incorporate. Examples of joint-friendly exercises that involve as many joints as possible are: shoulder bridges/hip thrusts, cable machine exercises, lat pulldowns on a lat pulldown machine, squats, and deadlifts (from learning the movement to exercises with light weight up to increasing the weight), wall push-ups. When doing so, training should be done bilaterally as much as possible, rather than unilaterally in isolation.
Other sports for osteoarthritis prevention
In addition to strength training, there are other sports that protect and support your joints. To reduce overweight as an osteoarthritis risk factor, it is certainly advisable to consult a doctor first to discuss which type and amount of exercise is appropriate. For people looking to lose weight, a combination of endurance and strength training is a good option. Sports such as badminton, basketball, or tennis are less suitable for joint-friendly workouts because they involve many abrupt start-and-stop movements. Sports that provide a full-body, joint-friendly workout are much better suited:
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Swimming
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Aqua gymnastics or aqua fitness
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(Nordic) walking
So, even before the first signs of osteoarthritis appear, there is a lot you can do to keep your joints healthy and stress-free for as long as possible. Exercise and physical activity are at the top of the list.
