It is a requirement when we grow old that we have to exercise so that our body remains in good shape and condition. But joint pain becomes hell for most of the elderly while exercising.
The good news is that low-impact exercise is abundant and will make you healthy, keep you active, and even decrease joint pain. The following is a discussion of ten low-impact but beneficial exercises for older people who do not have to over-strain their joints but who wish to be healthy.
Understanding Low-Impact Exercise
Low-impact exercise is exercise that is not stressful to your joints, particularly your knees, hips, and ankles. It is less stressful on your body than high-impact activities like running or jumping and is ideal for older adults with arthritis or joint pain.
Low-impact activity enables an overwhelming list of advantages that include cardiovascular well-being, strength, and flexibility up to balance and improvement of mood. They also improve weight management, which is far more conducive to keeping the level of stress your joints have to take on as low as possible.
The secret is finding the exercises that you will enjoy and with which you are reasonably compatible both physically and in general health. Approve any program by your own medical doctor in the event of ongoing medical sickness or illness.
1. Water Aerobics: The Joint-Friendly Workout
Water aerobics is a wonderful low-impact exercise for someone who has joint discomfort in their older years. Water buoyancy takes pressure off of your joints and inflates the joints without taking away resistance in order to work your muscles. It’s a wonderful option for people with arthritis or other joint issues.
You will be doing it all in a typical water aerobics class — walking, running, kicking, arm circles, and leg lifts. Muscle strengthening and cardiovascular conditioning are supplied by water resistance without added joint stress.
And, as an added bonus, the warm water will even alleviate sore muscles and joints.
Water aerobics is easy to start. Call your community center or health club for a class. All pools have senior classes for all. Which is wonderful news for those rehabbing from injury, surgery, or arthritis.
If new, start with gradual increases in intensity and length.
Equipment can be incorporated occasionally to enhance and vary water aerobics classes. These might include:
• Foam noodles for stabilization and support
• Aqua jogging belts, deep water training
• Water weights for added resistance
• Leg work kickboards
Remember to drink water while doing the water aerobics, since you won’t be sweating as much and getting as hot in spite of the workout, because of the cooling effect of the water that might be a side effect and lead you to forget how much work you are actually doing.
2. Tai Chi: The Gentle Art of Movement
Tai Chi, or “moving meditation,” is a very ancient Chinese exercise that integrates flowing movement, slow deep breathing, and relaxed mind. It is low-impact and thus perfect for older individuals since it improves balance, flexibility, and muscular strength without over-stressing the joints.
The slow flowing exercises of Tai Chi can also be used to extend your range of motion and increase the healing benefits for those suffering from arthritis. Studies have found that daily use of Tai Chi is known to reduce the stiffness and pain in the joints, enhance sleep, and even keep elderly people from falling.
To begin practicing Tai Chi, look for beginner classes in your area. Many senior centers, community colleges, and parks offer Tai Chi classes specifically designed for older adults.
You can also find instructional videos online to practice at home.
When starting Tai Chi, focus on these key principles:
1. Posture: Maintain an upright, relaxed posture with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Breathing: Coordinate your movements with slow, deep breaths.
3. Slowing: Slow down in steps and move with awareness.
4. Weight Transference: Feel the sensation of transferring weight smoothly from one foot to the next.
5. Awareness: Feel presence and awareness with movement and breathing.
Keep in mind that patience and persistence are the keys to Tai Chi – start with a few minutes a day and gradually build as your body adjusts. After you have learned the basic movements, then you can proceed to studying complex sequences and forms.
3. Walking: Simple Yet Powerful
Brisk walking will likely be the most accessible and simplest low-impact exercise for older adults. No special equipment needs to be purchased (except a good shoe) and it is easy to walk nearly everywhere.
Daily walking will improve cardiovascular health, muscle and bone strength, and help with a healthy weight – all good to alleviate joint pain.
To include walking in your fitness program, begin with short walks and gradually extend their duration and intensity. Thirty minutes a day, seven days a week is ideal, but even short walks will do.
If 30 minutes a day is too much time to begin with, break it into three 10-minute walks spaced out over the course of the day.
During walking exercise, the head is to remain in the erect position, shoulder relaxed, and arms swung without restraint. Walking on flat levels and walking with walking poles when there is stabilization required and to help alleviate stress on joints of lower body.
Some of the few tips regarding optimizing the walking program and incorporating fun and functionality is:
1. Walking companion: A pal will make the hours fly by and ensure you’re on schedule.
2. Vary your routes: Walk in different ‘hoods, parks, or nature preserves to vary your routes.
3. Pedometer or fitness tracker: Set daily step targets and track your progress in the long term.
4. Walking meditation: Pay attention to what is about you, the sensation of your feet on the ground, and your breathing.
5. Incorporate intervals: Once used to walking consistently, incorporate slower and quicker walking intervals to continue building cardiovascular fitness.
Walk slowly and listen to your body. In case of pain or discomfort, slow down or stop.
Progressively build walking intensity and duration with improved fitness.
4. Chair Yoga: Strength and Flexibility from a Seated Position
Chair yoga is most suitable for elderly people who are bedridden or have a balance problem. Chair yoga is a seated yoga where you are holding poses and taking support of the chair wherever you need it, so it is most suitable for those who cannot hold normal yoga poses.
Chair yoga has all the same benefits of regular yoga, such as flexibility, strengthening, and relaxation. Chair yoga may relieve stiffening in joints, improve circulation, and achieve general well-being.
The majority of chair yoga stretches are built to provide subtle neck, shoulder, hip, and ankle stretching – all of the most cozy areas of restriction and pain for seniors.
To begin chair yoga, try it out at your nearest yoga studio or seniors’ center. Or search for chair yoga on most internet videos.
Begin with basic postures and maintain the strong focus on breathing.
When you get comfortable with it, then you can modify the practice to vary the level of difficulty.
Some of the easy chair yoga postures that you may begin with are:
1. Seated Cat-Cow Stretch:
• Sit in front of chair with flat feet on ground.
• Wrap hands around knees.
• Inhale and arch back and head (Cow pose).
• Exhale and round back and tuck chin to chest (Cat pose).
• Repeat 5-10.
2. Seated Twist:
• Sit on side of chair with right side toward the chair back.
• Place hands on the chair back.
• Gradually turn your upper half to the right side without falling off your hands.
• Inhale 3-5 times and again repeat on the left side.
3. Ankles and Wrists Rotations:
• Sit comfortably in the chair and lean back.
• Set down one foot on the floor and spin your ankle 5 times clockwise and anti-clockwise.
• Repeat the same with the second foot.
• Cross arms over chest and turn wrists 5 times in both directions.
Breathe slowly and deeply, but never to the point of discomfort. Chair yoga is a great and efficient method of loosening stiff joints and stretching.
5. Swimming: The Perfect Low-Impact Exercise
Swimming has been referred to as the perfect exercise, and it’s simple to understand why. It is an exercise that exercises your entire body without putting too much stress on your joints.
The water buoyancy is what enables your body weight to be suspended so that you don’t stress out your joints when you swim.
Swimming is excellent cardiovascular exercise with the bonus of strength and endurance. Swimming is especially good for individuals with arthritis or other joint diseases since the water resistance provides you with a type of strengthening that is very gentle.
Cold water also decreases inflammation in the joints.
If you’re new to swimming or haven’t seen the pool in a while, start with small time frames and keep good form. You don’t need to lap it up to be assisted swimmingly – walking or running the length of the shallow end of the pool is an great activity.
Take a class with an instructor in water aerobics or swimming to learn proper form and exercises at your fitness level.
Tips for seniors swimming include:
1. Begin with water walking: If lap swimming in the pool is too much, begin by walking in the waist-deep water. The resistance of the water will be an excellent exercise.
2. Utilize flotation aids: Kickboards or pool noodles can be used to support you as you learn the style.
3. Mix the strokes: Breaststroke and backstroke are less joint stressful than freestyle and butterfly.
4. Breathe: Good breathing is the secret to swimming.
Practice exhaling and rolling your head to the side underwater in preparation for breathing.
5. Warm up and wind down: Spend a minute or two getting some low-key water stretches out before and after when you swim.
Don’t also forget to hydrate your body with plenty of water and use sunscreen when swimming outdoors. Swimming is so much fun when it comes to working out and staying fit as well as lowering the temperature level, especially during winter vacation.
6. Stationary Cycling: Low-Impact Cardio
Stationary cycling on an exercise bike or recumbent bike is the perfect low-impact aerobic workout for older individuals. It is feasible to increase the heart rate with minimal strain on hips, knees, and ankles.
It is joint-friendly and tightens and strengthens the muscles of legs. It is particularly beneficial in knee osteoarthritis patients because it is capable of reducing pain and functioning.
Recumbent bicycles, which tilt the seat and backrest, are more comfortable on elderly and backache patients.
To incorporate stationary cycling into your exercise routine, start with 10-15 minute low resistance sessions. In progressing in fitness level, move to longer times and resistance levels.
All gyms now include senior-level cycling classes, or use a home-available stationary cycle.
Some good and safe stationary cycling tips:
1. Proper positioning of the legs at the proper height: Your leg would almost be in line at the peak of the pedal stroke and nicely curved knee.
2. Sit correctly: Pedal up straight with slouching shoulders, regardless of whether you are on a recumbent exercise bike.
3. Low level resistance setting: Establish the very initial resistance setting that you can cycle easily at least for 10 minutes.
4. The talk test: You must be able to converse and pedal. Slow down if you can’t.
5. Mix it up: Alternate between standing and sitting (if your balance is good enough) and alternate speed and resistance so you never get tired of your workout.
6. Slow cool-down: Pedal at low resistance slowly for the last few minutes of your workout to slowly bring your heart rate back down.
Do hydrate with plenty of water during your cycling workout. Stop and see your medical doctor if experiencing pain or discomfort.
7. Resistance Band Exercises: Easier to Build Strength
Resistance band exercises are a great method of strengthening the older adult without adding bulk to their bodies. A flexible, elastic band provides resistance and moves through ranges of motion for conditioned muscle and greater flexibility.
Resistance band exercises can be designed to target a muscle group at a time and are seated, and therefore are ideal for mobility-impaired patients. They also excel at working around-joint muscles, reducing joint pain around joints and improving joint stability around joints.
Buy some resistance bands with varying resistances to start. Start with low resistance and concentrate on form.
You can also search online for senior-friendly resistance band exercise videos.
A few simple resistance band exercises to try:
Seated Row:
• Sit in chair with straight legs and back.
• Wrap band around feet and hold handles in each hand.
• Pull the band toward waist with shoulder blades squeezed together.
• Return slowly to the beginning position.
• 10-15 reps.
Leg Press:
• Sit in a chair and cover one foot with the band.
• Hold both ends of the band in each hand at sides of shoulders.
• Take a step forward with the front leg and straighten the leg.
• Move back to the starting position slowly.
• Do 10-15 repetitions on both legs.
Bicep Curls:
• Place the middle of the band under one foot.
• Hold both ends of the band in each hand with palms facing towards you.
• Take the hands forward and up towards the shoulders, bending elbows into the body.
• Slowly return to the original position.
• Repeat 10-15 times.
Start slowly and listen to your body signals – if you feel that you are injuring yourself during an exercise, stop and consult with a fitness expert or your physician. Later, after your body has adapted to these exercises, you can add weight or try more complex movements.
8. Pilates: Core Strength and Flexibility
Pilates is a low-impact form that’s specially created to engage the core, increase flexibility, and bring more body awareness. Pilates is a great exercise for older adults as it can be adapted into an effective and safe workout at any fitness or level of disability.
Pilates exercise is slow, controlled movement that improves posture, balance, and coordination. Pilates are of particular benefit to the elderly since they reduce mobility and falls risk.
Also, the core strengthening component also helps to reduce back pain, which is common in the majority of the elderly patients.
When starting Pilates, ask if the Pilates studio or local gym has starter classes. There may be senior or joint problem beginner classes taught by instructors.
Internet websites have beginner videos of senior Pilates and how to start doing Pilates.
Two easy exercises to do at home:
Pelvic Tilts:
• Sit on back with knees bent and feet flat on floor.
• Exhale, then inhale, tilting your pelvis to press your lower back into the floor.
• Inhale to return to the start.
• 5-10 repetitions.
Chest Lift:
• On your back with bent knees, feet flat.
• Hands behind head, elbows out to the sides.
• Inhale, then exhale and lift head, neck, and shoulders off the ground.
• Hold for a second and return slowly on exhalation.
• 5-10 times.
Leg Slides:
• Lie on back and bend knees with heels pressing into mat.
• Engage core and slowly draw one heel forward along mat, straightening leg.
• Return leg to starting position.
• Repeat cross leg.
• 5-10 on each leg.
Start slowly with brief stretches and then increase them as you grow stronger and more flexible. Breathe naturally and never attempt to force the stretch and past any pain.
9. Gentle Stretching: Being Flexible
Stretching is how you keep your flexibility and don’t let your joints get stiff, especially when you get older. Gentle stretching can help to expand the range of motion in your joints, reduce muscle tension, and even reverse some of the reasons for joint pain.
Stretch large muscle groups like your calves, thighs, hips, lower back, neck, and shoulders when stretching. Stretch each for 30 seconds and be sure to breathe deeply and inhale and exhale. Stretch slowly and never try to stretch past pain.
Stretch as part of your daily routine. You can do a few simple stretches sitting or lying in bed, so even on the days you are experiencing more joint pain, it is doable. Take a low-impact-on-your-joints stretching class or watch a senior-stretching video to help you learn how to stretch correctly.
Simple stretches to try:
Neck Stretch:
• Stand or sit with spine straight.
• Slowly lean head to one side, ear toward shoulder.
• 15-30 second hold; repeat on the opposite side.
Shoulder Roll:
• Stand or sit upright.
• Roll shoulders forward slowly in a circle 5 times in about 2 seconds.
• Roll 5 times in the opposite direction.
Seated Hamstring Stretch:
• Sit on the edge of a chair with one leg straight out in front of you, heel on the ground.
• Lean forward at hips, back straight, until a stretch in the back of the thigh is felt.
• Alternating between these two positions with 15-30 seconds between each.
Ankle Rotations:
• Sitting in a chair and lifting one foot off the floor.
• Rolling your ankle slightly in one direction, then the other, 5 of each.
• Repeat on other foot.
Make sure to stretch after warming up with some walking in place or light movements for a few minutes. This gets blood circulating through your muscles and keeps them flexible.
10. Balance Exercises: Falling Prevention and Improved Stability
Not a fashionable exercise, but balance training has a lot of relevance in older adults. Good balance prevents one from falling, and this is absolutely awful for people who have joint pains or osteoporosis.
Exercises in home balance do not require much equipment. Begin with basic movements such as standing on the ball of the foot (using a chair if necessary) and heel-to-toe walking, or infinitesimal raises off the leg.
As soon as your balance improves, you can do even more difficult exercises.
Make the balance exercises weaker and mix them with daily life activities. You can do them while toothbrushing, standing in a line, or during TV commercials.
Have a steady object nearby to grab onto when you lose your balance.
Some of the exercises include:
Single Leg Stand:
• Stand in front of a steady chair, holding onto the back of the chair.
• Lift one foot off the ground and balance on one leg.
• Balance for 10 seconds, then switch.
• As being more balanced, attempt to balance without using the chair for support.
Heel-to-Toe Walk:
• Stand with heels touching a wall.
• Take one foot out so the heel of this foot is ahead of the toes of the other foot.
• Walk 10 steps in this position, looking at some faraway point to assist with balance.
Clock Reach:
• Stand on the face of a clock with a chair close by to hold onto if necessary.
• Pick one leg up and the foot to 12 o’clock, then 3 o’clock, then 6 o’clock.
• Do the same for the second leg.
Do it slowly and at all times be safe. If one becomes unstable, stop the exercise and hold onto something stable.
People Also Asked
Which exercises are most appropriate for arthritis patients?
Low-impact exercises like swimming, water aerobics, and low-impact yoga are best for older individuals with arthritis. They strengthen the joints as well as improve their flexibility without exerting too much pressure on the joints.
How often should the elderly exercise?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommend that older adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity a week, and muscle-strengthening physical activity on two or more days a week.
Does exercise reduce joint pain in older adults?
Yes, exercise also alleviates knee pain in the elderly by keeping the muscles around the joints strong, the joints flexible, and overall health. Once again, the correct low-impact exercise needs to be chosen and cleared by a doctor before starting a new exercise regimen.
Is walking good for elderly individuals with knee pain?
Walking is helpful for elderly individuals with knee pain because it strengthens the muscles that support the knee and relaxes the joints. A person has to start slowly, use supportive shoes, and walk on a flat surface to minimize knee stress.
What are the benefits of water exercises for the elderly?
Aquatic exercise is extremely advantageous to older adults like reduced joint stress, cardiovascular effectiveness, muscle strength, and improved balance and flexibility. Buoyancy in water further reduces the effects of joints, thus making the joints less straining and comfortable for those suffering from weak joints or mobility.
In what ways do older people improve balance so that they can avoid falling?
Balance can be improved in elderly persons by practicing certain simple exercises like single-leg standing, heel-to-toe walking, and tai chi. Stability will also be improved as well as the number of falls decreased by doing exercises repeatedly.
Is yoga safe in elderly persons with joint pain?
Modified versions of yoga, such as gentle yoga or chair yoga, are feasible and safe for elderly persons with joint disease. Modified forms of exercise involve smooth, flexibility exercises that build strength and looseness without putting too much stress on joints.
What are the most suitable strength training exercises for elderly persons?
Resistance band exercises, wall push-ups and chair squats with no weight machine or dumbbells and light intensity dumbbell exercises are some of the most suitable strength training equipment for older adults. These are best for maintaining bone and muscle strength without overloading the joints.
What will motivate older adults to exercise on a regular basis?
The aged can be encouraged to keep going by having realistic expectations, exercising in a buddy pair, joining a class, tracking progress, and doing enjoyable activities. Encouraging short-term benefits of exercise such as a boost in mood and energy also helps.
What if the aged are not able to do some exercises?
Older adults would avoid high-impact stressful exercise like plyometrics or walking on the sidewalk in general. Jerking movement and heavy weight lifting alone and untrained also should be avoided.
Key Takeaways
1. Low-impact exercises have low joint stress but are packed with a multitude of health benefits.
2. Water exercises like water aerobics and swimming are best for patients with joint pains.
3. Body-mind exercises like Tai Chi and chair yoga enhance flexibility, balance, and general well-being.
4. Rapid but comfortable walking can be simply integrated into one’s routine.
5. Band or light weightlifting is best suited to keep the muscle and bone strength intact.
6. Balancing and stretching exercises need to be performed every day to be flexible and not fall.
7. Always start slowly and gradually move to exercising more intensely and for longer periods of time.
8. Listen to your body and take the advice of medical professionals before starting a new exercise regime.
9. Consistency is the key – try moderate regular exercise instead of irregular high-level exercise.
10. Exercise in activities that you enjoy so that exercise can be a lifelong habit!
Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.