• From 2010- 2012, an estimated 52.5 million US adults (22.7 percent) annually were told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia.
• An estimated 49.7 percent of adults 65 years or older reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis from 2010-2012.
• An estimated 62% of adults with arthritis are 65 years of age or older.

Staying active helps ward off the effects of arthritis, and the folks at SoMuchYoga.com tell us, working some yoga into your life is a good way to help you maintain an active lifestyle. Yoga can reduce pain, increase your range of motion, helps you build strength, improves your balance, and offers a host of additional psychological benefits.
Learn more about how a regimen of yoga can aid your active lifestyle at this article, “Yoga for Arthritis: The Amazing Way Yoga Helps Alleviate Arthritis Pain,” from SoMuchYoga.com.

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“I have rheumatoid arthritis,” says the 59-year-old Raleigh resident.

She found a solution less than five minutes from her front door: at the Optimist Park Pool.

“I came over one day and asked to see the pool,” says Lackey. “They were real friendly.”  And she discovered that the walking she tried to do around her neighborhood was so much easier on her joints in three feet of water.

Today, Lackey walks in the pool for one hour, three times a week. She’s dropped a dress size, she’s more limber, her joint pain has diminished, she sleeps at night and she’s taken the next step in her water rehab: She’s learning to swim.

Lackey’s example is a reminder to the estimated 50 million U.S. adults who suffer from arthritis: exercise can help.

“People who have arthritis are often scared to exercise because they think they will hurt themselves, but the condition will only get worse if people don’t get moving,” Valerie Walkowiak, medical integration coordinator at the Loyola Center for Fitness in Maywood, Ill.

Walkowiak says all all arthritis sufferers can benefit from some form of exercise, be it osteoarthritis — the most common form, in which cartilage deteriorates, leaving joints with no cushion between bones — and rheumatoid arthritis, in which inflammation causes joints to lose shape and alignment.

Some quick tips:

• All types of arthritis can benefit from stretching, to increase range of movement.
• Lifting light weights is good for building muscle strength, which can take pressure off joints.
• Aerobic exercise, such as walking is good. Start slow, she advises, with 10 to 15 minutes of exercise a day. “As your body adapts to the new routine, gradually increase duration to 30 to 45 minutes.”
• Other good exercise options for the arthritic: water aerobics, stationary cycling, gardening, swimming, yoga and Tai-Chi.

Walkowiak says to consult your doctor before starting an exercise routine. To optimize your results, she advises working with a therapist or personal trainer.

Lackey is sold on her new exercise routine, a routine that keeps on giving. The lack of pain she experiences from her one-hour water walks lingers for a good day or two.

“Oh, I feel good,” she beams. “I feel wonderful.”

Photo: Pools are especially good workout venues for arthritis sufferers.

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“We’re seeing some arthritis … ” she began.

And just like that, for the first time in 54 years I realized I was getting … older.

Sure, there’d been signs: the relentless birthdays, the even more relentless overtures from AARP.  “Arthritis,” though, carried with it baggage. Heavy baggage. Baggage so heavy you sometimes had to ask a young person for help carrying it. Once I thought about it, though, I realized I knew very little about this baggage called arthritis beyond the fact that it’s an inflammation of the joints. Time to run this baggage through the Rapiscan Secure 1000. Better still, Google it.

From WebMD I learned:

• There are more than 100 different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis,  the most common form; rheumatoid arthritis, and gout.
• It’s more common in women than men.
• The chances of developing osteoarthritis in particular increase with age.
• An estimated 70 million Americans — roughly one in three — have osteoarthritis.
• Early diagnosis and treatment can minimize the damage caused by arthritis.
• Exercise is one of the key treatment options.

The latter came as especially good news. Switching over to Arthritis Today, a Web site sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation, I learned:

• Stretching exercises such as tai chi and yoga are especially good, ditto swimming.
• Strength training offers longer-term benefits.
• 150 minutes of exercise a week is recommended, but even 20 minutes three times a week will help.
• Athletes with arthritis include Olympic gold-medal winning cyclist Kristin Armstrong (ostearthritis).
• This is the part I found most interesting: Exercise is especially important when arthritis flares up. Exercise releases pain-reducing chemicals, including endorphins. “Physical activity also appears to reduce cellular inflammation that could otherwise exacerbate inflammatory conditions, including arthritis,” stated the site. That would explain why my discomfort disappeared after just a few minutes on the bike. It even dissipated, somewhat, on longer runs (though it returned with a vengeance within a minute or so of stopping).

Kristin Armstrong actually put a positive spin on her osteoarthritis. “Even skipping a couple of days here and there will cause the deep dull pain to come back around,” Armstrong told Arthritis Today. “That pain is always a friendly reminder to get back on track.”

A “friendly reminder.” What could be wrong with that?

Photo: That’s actually a photo of I.M. Hipp, the great University of Nebraska running back from 30 years ago. His picture is a lot more fun than an X-ray of my arthritic hip.

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