Usually when someone is diagnosed with arthritis, their doctor will provide them with a detailed treatment plan that includes various exercises as well as dietary restrictions and benefits. Red meats, dairy, processed foods, and food additives are all known to aggravate arthritis symptoms.

Yoga, tai chi, water aerobics, muscle strengthening, and weight training are the most popular arthritis exercises. Also included are range-of-motion exercises lik dance, and endurance exercises like cycling.

It's best to talk with your healthcare practitioner before starting an exercise program because it's unknown whether a certain exercise routine will aggravate your arthritis symptoms.

Nowadays, most of the major insurance companies provide their members with discounts to health clubs. Some even offer discounts on health products such as exercise videos and dietary supplements. Oftentimes policyholders are not aware of these discounts, so be certain to check with your insurance carrier to see if they offer these types of discounts.

In addition, many health clubs offer up to a 50 percent discount to certain insurance members. The majority of these clubs offer private sessions with a qualified exercise trainer. Many of these trainers are well-versed in helping clients develop an arthritis exercise program suited to their needs. Typically, the cost of a personal trainer is not covered and will be an out-of-pocket expense.

Another option is to look into joining your local YMCA or YWCA. Oftentimes, these organizations offer water aerobics, which has shown to be effective in decreasing arthritis pain. Water aerobics is a very gentle form of exercise and can be performed by nearly everyone. It involves sitting in a shallow pool and conducting gentle resistance exercises.

Heat is very benficial to sore joints, so it should be applied to joints regardless of the type of exercise program. Heat will make joints more flexible and should be applied for 5 to 15 minutes at a time.

You will want to perform stretch exercises after you apply heat to your joints and before you start your exercise routine. After you complete your exercises, use cold packs to help reduce inflammation on your joints.

In order to make sure you stick with an exercise program, choose one that you enjoy and doesn't cause you intense pain.