Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Sporting ASKickers How does exercise help you?

Dead in the water now. My feet are killing me. I'm able to get up and move around for about three hours before my feet start hurting to bad to walk on them. I have exercised in the water before and whilst it felt good it never stopped the fusing.

Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm going to do what I can to get the pain under control and then do a bit more exploring on the exercise front.

Micheline- so are you exercising?

I will be very happy for a dry warm summer

I believe some proper exercising will benefit to the body and loosen the pain.

Hey First time poster.
I think i'm a typical case of what they are talking about.

I try and keep as active as i can. Running, Gym, Obstacle course (Tough Mudder Etc) Non contact sport etc.

I really notice in the times where i have lazy/slack days where i don't do alot other than hang around the house my symptoms usually flare up. (SI joint pain and stiffness etc.)
If i have a prolonged period of inactivity a few days etc it takes me a week or so to be able to get things back under control so i can do things again.

However that being said i do have periods where i have flare ups and am not able to do much. But these have been less frequent and shorter in duration since i have focused on keeping active.

God I don't even know where to begin.

Some of the comments here scare me.

Exercise is the most important thing in medicine aka life. Exercise is good for like every condition under the sun and wendy pretty much summed it up right because of circulation and this thing called physiology.

physiology has its own laws and there are key times when and how physiology works namely during sleep and exercise. Edit: Forgot to add this but during these times you could say "this is where the magic happens". That one is important. A lot of other things can influence physiology too like diet, medication, injury and infection.

To go even further exercise is very important of musculoskeletal diseases like diseases of the joint hinges.

Finally AS is inflammatory and for this reason exercise is good because of the inverse.
EDiT again: Oh and I'm sorry I left a very important one out. Exercise also thins and redistributes inflammation. THIS IS GYNORMOUS for the functionality of the patient. It is anti-inflammatory too but the latter has much more of an affect on the disease and for this reason, ultimately, slows the fusing processes. It also slows the hardening of the inflammation for this very reason. Also there are different types, and facets of the catch all phrase "inflammation"

These key things are why exercise is not just important but the cornerstone to good health, especially in a systemic inflammatory joint disease of the back joints.

BTW I'm bored, how's everyone's exercise going? Stick with it!

Oh and I think someone brought up another good point about weight lifting and feeling worse or something.

1 thing you may have to be careful of is exercising properly. Hopefully you can just do this but if you can't you have to modify how or what you are doing. Make sure to pay attention to this till you don't have to anymore. Well at least by focusing on it.

I have been off work for about 3 years, and those here who know of what I have been through the last few years know the half of it.
It has put my life as a single father into a financial tailspin, I basically lost everything, mostly my independece. I have been humbled and humiliated to say the least.
This is my plan to get my life back, tonight I am going to join the YMCA
tomorrow, I am going to kick AS
I have had a hard life, and unless I can back to work, I expect my life, and quality of life to further diminish. Now days i at least feel like some rehab, and lifestyle changes would benifit me. If i am going to recover enough to at least Try one more time it is going to come with trying and excersise.

hi elmerfud
if your ymca has a pool try water arobics. the water makes exercise a little easier on your body. some thing that you can do at home is yoga for arthritis. i have been doing yoga for a few months and i am moving better, i guess the real test will be winter. good luck mike

Feeling fit is pain relief no. one.

I finally did join a gym, I have been working at it for a month now,
and already pulled soHopefully my leg, so I took a few days off.
I noticed it is really difficult to be very active when not working.
So I am working on my stamina more than anything. Just being on my feet for an hour at a time Iis a start. gotta love mindless walking on a treadmill.
I don't know if it will help my pain, but I know if I continue to be a couch potato things will get worse, And I have had enough of the bad.
I got my daughter a membership also and we go everyday, I take her to work, then do walking, and then I go again with her after she gets off work.
I do seem to fall asleep faster now, and Iam trying to resist taking naps during the day. I am trying hard to make positive changes in my life, I would love to rebound from my last few years and put it in the past.