Exercise therapy is one of the best methods for helping patients to reduce or eliminate many forms of acute pain or chronic pain. It can help patients strengthen muscles, increase the range of motion in joints and achieve a state of physical fitness that allows them to perform everyday activities without pain or discomfort.

For many years, experts warned pain patients to rest and avoid exercise. At the time, the consensus was that too much physical activity would further damage joints and muscles, causing pain to worsen. However, experts now understand that exercise actually helps relieve chronic pain by strengthening muscles and other tissue and increasing a patient’s flexibility and stamina.

Exercise also causes the body to release chemicals such as endorphins and enkephalins, which block pain signals from reaching the brain and can help alleviate anxiety and depression. These emotions can make pain more difficult to manage.

Exercise gives pain patients increased energy and helps them sleep and reduce fatigue. It also helps patients maintain a healthy weight, which reduces the stress on joints and increases bone mass, which leaves patients less susceptible to injury and conditions such as osteoporosis. Scientists also credit exercise with reducing blood pressure and inflammation and helping to prevent cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some types of cancer.

Most experts recommend that people engage in some kind of activity on most or all days of the week – even if some bedrest is also recommended. This is also true for most pain patients. Patients are never too old to begin an exercise program. Studies have shown that it is possible to add muscle mass, increase aerobic capacity and increase flexibility as late as a person’s 90s. However, patients are advised not to start an exercise program without first consulting their physician.

Although the type of exercise will vary depending on the type of pain and a patient’s complications, some low–intensity exercises commonly used to treat different types of pain include:

• Stationary bicycling
• Swimming
• Walking
• Using an exercise ball
• Stretching, flexibility and range-of-motion exercises such as yoga, tai chi and Pilates