Treat Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis with Exercise
For children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a carefully designed exercise plan is vital to their well-being. Exercise maintains flexible joints, builds strong muscles, increases endurance and improves overall fitness. When exercise becomes part of the child's daily routine, the benefits are maximized.
Instructions
1. Warm up the joints. Apply heat treatment to decrease the stiffness caused by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Use heat packs or a warm shower or bath.
2. Begin with range of motion exercises. Work the joints that are most affected by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Extend them to their normal capacity. Do head turns, forward arm reaches, elbow bends and knee lifts.
3. Increase repetitions gradually. Do this until fifteen minutes of exercise becomes easy. Then it's time to add muscle strengthening exercises. Do these every other day. Strong muscles take the strain off of joints in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
4. Perform isometric exercises. These strengthen muscles without moving joints. Examples include exercises that tense the muscles in the buttocks and the large muscles at the front of the thighs.
5. Add isotonic exercises. These strengthen muscles by moving joints. A common example is the seated leg lift. This builds the thigh muscle. To do this exercise, raise the leg until the knee is straight and the leg is horizontal.
6. Introduce cardiovascular exercises. These put the heart, lungs and blood vessels to work and build strong muscles. Choose exercises that won't put a lot of stress on joints. Examples include swimming, biking and brisk walking. Work up to a 30 minute session three or four times per week.
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