What exercise works for you?

[lisajayne]

Hello!

I find running is the best exercise to help manage my crohn's disease. If I haven't been running in a while I can really notice the difference - pain begins again and I feel uncomfortable. Swimming is also great for stress relief and an overall feeling of calm and wellbeing.

I'm wondering what works for other members, whether you have an exercise routine or you go as and when suits you?

Hopefully(!) I'm coming to the end of a flare-up at the moment, so I'm gradually getting back into exercise to aid my recovery, and as a result really interested in how exercise helps other 'crohnners'.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Hi lisajayne, welcome to the forum. Would you mind sharing your story in the My Story section of the forum so that we can all get to know you better?

Weight-lifting is my favorite type of exercise. I sometimes have to skip the abdominals machine if my guts are acting up too much, but otherwise I can usually do it all. I also enjoy yoga, that's always easy on my guts and seems to help my joints. I like biking, but sometimes my knee gets painful after awhile on the bike. I have a hard time with jogging, as I have arthritis in my right hip and it sometimes gets very painful after just a few minutes of jogging. I did have a steroid injection into my bad hip a couple months ago, so I've been able to jog a bit lately, but usually I just cannot jog.

I agree that exercise is great for stress relief, and it's also helped me a lot with mood/depression stuff. When I'm in the gym, I can forget for a little bit that I'm a sick girl, and pretend that I'm a normal, healthy person. That in and of itself is pretty much the best mental and physical therapy I could ask for!

 

[Axelfl3333]

Cross trainer and rowing machine are my weapon of choice.the rowing machine helps with constipation(think about it).good luck

 

[zilla7777]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm with Cat on this, I find weight lifting has great benefits for me!

I tend to get the extra-intestinal inflammation around a lot of my joints, particularly my knees and my back (Also a little sciatic damage but that's another thing.). Since beginning squats and dead-lifts the pain has subsided, and it was only too coincidental that after 3 weeks of being out of the gym I started to get the pains again.

It had also helped me hold it together this year in my mind. Being in the gym 5 days a week for 45mins to an hour felt like the ultimate stress relief.

Being able to set yourself goals and watching yourself progress at your own pace is what keeps me there