Exercise is known to have benefits for people with arthritis. However, many people with arthritis do not exercise, often because of joint or muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, or joint swelling. This can lead to loss of joint motion, stiffness, and muscle weakness and tightness. These problems can worsen fatigue and cause joints to become unstable.

However, exercise can decrease pain and enhance quality of life. Exercise is most beneficial if it is done on a regular basis. Most people can find a way to exercise without increasing their symptoms.

This topic describes the benefits of exercise for people with arthritis, including disease-specific exercise recommendations.
Many people use the word "arthritis" to refer to all rheumatic diseases. However, the word literally means joint inflammation; that is, swelling, redness, heat, and pain caused by tissue injury or disease in the joint. The many different kinds of arthritis comprise just a portion of the rheumatic diseases. Some rheumatic diseases are described as connective tissue diseases because they affect the body's connective tissue--the supporting framework of the body and its internal organs. Others are known as autoimmune diseases because they are caused by a problem in which the immune system harms the body's own healthy tissues. Examples of some rheumatic diseases are:

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Fibromyalgia

Systemic lupus erythematosus

Scleroderma

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Ankylosing spondylitis

Gout