Every now and again, I run into an enthusiastic health professional who opines that I should exercise. I try telling them that exercise makes me flare. "What about range of motion exercises, then?" they chirp optimistically.

And that's when I tell them that my life is a range of motion exercise.

Severe RA and Physical Activity

When you have severe damage from RA as I do or are in a heavy flare, exercise is almost impossible. Pushing beyond the limits can make you flare more. On the other hand, exercise helps keep your joints moving and builds muscle to support those joints. Both are essential to maintaining — or even improving — your level of ability. So what do you do?

Moving Counts

We’ve just released an exciting new HealthCentral video called Exercises for All Levels of RA! In the video, members of the RAHealthCentral team show you what we each do to stay active. We even enticed Cathy Kramer, who used to write for us, to take part! We range from having severe RA, through moderate and mild levels of the disease. All of us do things to stay active, but not all of it looks like regular exercise.

I have severe RA and can't exercise. I live independently, but receive attendant care on and off during the day to help me with showering, getting dressed cooking and so on. The rest of the time, I manage on my own and this keeps me physically active. Each task I do throughout the day involves working a number of muscle groups. Transferring with assistance from my wheelchair to the toilet involves weight-bearing and helps to maintain the strength in my legs. Making lunch has me moving back and forth in my chair. Buying groceries involves leaning out over my armrest to reach the apples.

I'll break down an example for you. If you watch the video, you'll see me making a cup of tea in the microwave. This works my abs, my back muscles and my shoulders and arms, both in terms of strength and stretching. When I sit in my wheelchair, I'm quite reclined due to lack of mobility in my hips. To put water in a cup, I have to take my feet off the footrests and put them on the ground while I lean forward on the edge of the seat (works the stomach and back muscles). I then reach for my dressing stick and use it to turn on the water. Still leaning forward, I rinse out the cup a couple of times, then move the filled cup into the microwave. This stretches out my arm through its range of motion, while using strength to hold the cup of water.

Leaning forward is particularly useful and I do it every time I make a cup of tea, reach for something on my desk, brush my teeth and so on. Every time I lean forward, it's a sit-up. Although I may not be able to do 100 crunches in a row, I probably do about 100 sit-ups throughout the day. In fact, my abs are probably the best developed muscles I have!

23 ½ Hours

Going through your regular routine throughout the day can help maintain your current level of ability. But what if you want to get better? This is where 23 1/2 hours can help.