Best Exercises for People with Health Issues

Health issues shouldn’t stop you from exercising and sticking to your routine. In fact, exercise is sometimes recommended if you have certain health issues as it can help boost your immune system, strengthen your core, and do much more for your body.

Dealing with health issues can be a lot easier and if you don’t know what type of exercises you are allowed and not allowed to do, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll show you the most common and popular exercises for the most common health issues, so let’s break it down!

Eligibility of Exercise in Different Medical Conditions

Best Exercises for People With Health Issues

The reason exercise is important if you’re having health issues is that it can be beneficial for the heart, and arteries, and even for inflammatory issues, such as arthritis.

A general rule of thumb is to do only exercises that don’t put a lot of weight on you, your joints, and much stress on your overall body. Every health issue is different so everyone will need a different exercise routine and set of exercises. Some of the most common exercises include walking, swimming, and aerobic exercise. But depending on your health issue, you should find out what exercises would fit your case the best, and that’s exactly what you can do below as we break these exercises down for various health issues.

Best Exercises for Back Pain

Back pain is one of the most common health issues that people don’t even find to be an issue anymore. It can happen due to many things, but the biggest benefit of exercising when you have back pain is building the core muscles that can help with your posture.

Depending on the level of the pain, you might want to start with walking, swimming, and if you’re not experiencing a whole lot of pain – biking. These exercises can reduce back pain and help strengthen the back muscles which prevents further injury, but also ensuring your form is correct is very important so further exercising accidents don’t happen.

If you’re in a whole lot of pain and can’t see yourself exercising with the amount of back pain you have, swimming is the right choice. Being in the water will help ease the weight on your muscles and joints. You’ll still be able to get a good workout, and work your back muscles while relieving the pain.

Best Exercises for Blood Pressure

Dealing with blood pressure and getting on with your daily routine can be difficult. However, exercising is crucial in reducing blood pressure so incorporating it into your routine can keep your blood pressure in check.

With blood pressure, you must be getting things done so almost any type of exercise can be a good fit. For example, you have a wide choice between walking, cycling, jogging, or even swimming. Even dancing can be a good option. If you’re struggling with very high blood pressure, doing HIIT (high interval intensity training) can be very beneficial.

Best Exercises for Fatty Liver

Fatty liver requires a decent amount of exercise as it can help manage the fatty liver. At the same time, you will experience health benefits related to your heart, fitness in general, and even blood vessels.

In fact, exercise benefits people with fatty liver issues so much more that it can increase good acid oxidation but reduce acid synthesis. It can go so far to reduce the damage and release of damaging molecules. Many people also tend to heal fatty liver issues by losing weight, and that’s also something that’s closely associated with exercising.

Therefore, the best exercises for fatty liver issues include almost anything you can think of, from cycling and swimming to jogging, active sports, and more. Even a light walk can be beneficial if you stick to it and do it regularly. These exercises are simple and can make a huge change, but you also need to make lifestyle changes to experience the best benefits if you’re dealing with fatty liver health issues.

Even strength training and lifting weights can help with both weight loss and fatty liver issues. But if you get easily tired and feel fatigued a lot, starting with simpler exercises and then making progress is the smart way to get healthier.

Best Exercises for Heart Attack

Heart attack isn’t good news and it’s a serious health issue where exercise is important for post-recovery. Aerobic exercise is the best for people dealing with heart attack issues. Ideally, you should exercise for about 30 minutes a day. This can be anything from a light walk, a swim, or cycling. You can even take things up a notch if you’re feeling ready and jump rope or play tennis.

What’s most important is not to get into exercising way too quickly after a heart attack. For some people, a starting point will be a 5-minute light walk per day from where they can build it up to 30 minutes a day. Easy walking around the house is where most people suffering from heart attack will start, but remember, even this is a workout.

After that, you can easily progress to walking down your street and being so much more active in different ways. What’s also important is to combine exercise with a healthy diet as that’s the perfect combination to prevent further heart attacks or life-threatening events.

Best Exercises for Spinal Stenosis

Dealing with spinal stenosis and feeling any kind of pressure on your spine is a struggle, and exercise might be the last thing on your mind. However, exercise is the exact thing you should do to activate the muscles surrounding the back area. This can improve stability, do lumbar alignment, coordinate the lumbar spine, and even improve the lumbar angle. As a result, you can feel relief and “lift” the pain from that one spot.

One of the best exercises for spinal stenosis is the standing lumbar flexion. This exercise can act as a relief for nerve compression and it’s very easy to do so. However, you should avoid exercises that can put a lot of pressure on your spine or activities that involve contact, such as contact sports. Other specific exercises for spinal stenosis include double knee to chest, posterior pelvic tilt, and lower trunk rotation.

These exercises should be done daily as they can help strengthen the needed muscles, provide relief, and help prevent further issues with spinal stenosis. While they seem very easy to do at first, they are exercises that can strengthen the back muscles and can become difficult when repeated successfully several times, but you should just push through it.

Best Exercises for Lung Disease

While exercising might not be an option in your mind if you’re dealing with lung disease, it’s something you should consider. People struggling with lung disease can benefit from light exercise as it helps their body and lungs to use oxygen more efficiently. The best type of exercise is aerobic exercise and this includes anything from walking and running to cycling, swimming, and lightweight or resistance training.

Keep in mind that you will have to build up to the most active exercises, so starting with walking in your house or down your street is a great start from where you can progress. After that, you can move to a lot more active exercises we mentioned above. Doing them for at least 30 minutes a few times per week can be very beneficial as long as you stick to your workout routine.

These exercises aren’t difficult but they take will and determination. Besides them, you should also improve your lifestyle, maintain a healthy diet, and have regular check-ups at the doctor’s office.

Best Exercises for Cancer Patients

The type of exercise you can do as a cancer patient depends on the type of cancer and the phase. The best exercises include standard aerobic exercises where you can do things such as walking, running, and even some weight lifting, but only if your cancer hasn’t spread further from the initial phase.

Building muscles with weight training, combining it with resistance training and a bit of cardio can be beneficial for cancer patients. Staying active will help build muscles and the more muscles you have, the better your balance will be, and the easier it will be to get daily activities done. On top of that, reducing fatigue is another benefit and even because exercise can fight the cancer type that weakens the bones is a good reason to pick up dumbbells.

If you are not into lifting weights and have never been a fan, the next best exercise you can do includes resistance bands. These will still add a bit of resistance needed for muscle growth for beginners, they are easy to carry around and you can use them almost anywhere you can think of.

Best Exercises for Kidney Stones

Kidney stones can be extremely painful and uncomfortable so the thought of exercise might be worrying. However, certain exercises for people with kidney stone issues can help the stone pass through the urinary tract and provide relief, as well as avoid the operation.

For people with kidney stones, it’s important to stick to low-intensity workouts, but it’s important to be on the move. Therefore, jogging, walking, and cycling are the best exercises, but if you have a chance for aerobics in the water or swimming, these can be even better exercises. Being in the water and getting the exercise done can prevent the enlargement of the stone and help it pass much more easily. What’s also important is that you need to drink a lot of liquid, so drinking about a liter of water before exercise helps flush the stones much more efficiently.

Urologists also recommend rope jumping as one of the best exercises to dislodge the stone and naturally pass it through. Whichever exercise you decide to choose, you should stay hydrated. If you’re not hydrated, you’ll have a hard time naturally passing through the stone no matter how much you exercise.

When it comes down to the amount of exercise, a 30-minute daily exercise is the minimum that’s recommended.

Best Exercises to Lower Cholesterol

Cholesterol isn’t bad until we have too much of it in our body. Changing your lifestyle is super important, but adding exercise to the combination is a great way to quickly lower and reduce your cholesterol.

The thing with reducing cholesterol is that almost any exercise will be a great fit. Therefore, you have a wide choice between walking, running (or a light jog), cycling, and more. Even yoga can be beneficial, and if you’re into a bit more intense workouts, lifting weights and resistance training are great ways to start working on cholesterol reduction.

Swimming is another great exercise since it’s easy to do and yet it works a lot of muscles at the same time without being hard on the joints. Depending on your physical availability, high-intensity interval training combined with weights and a bit of cardio will make the biggest impact on cholesterol reduction.

But of course, not everyone is a fan of weights and HIIT training, so it’s good to keep in mind that even a jog can be beneficial. With any of these exercises and a proper lifestyle, you can see a reduction in cholesterol within 3 to 6 months.

Best Exercises for Diabetic Patients

If you have diabetes, the good news is that you can choose from almost any exercise out there to help improve your health. A general rule of thumb says it’s best to avoid high-intensity training, such as lifting weights and HIIT training.

Sticking with generally easier exercises such as swimming, bicycle riding, and walking or light jogging make the best exercises for diabetic patients. You can also include other exercises such as yoga, dancing, light weight lifting, and more. Also, there’s no exception for type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, so you can freely choose any of these exercises.

Best Exercises for Facet Joint Pain

Facet joint pain is difficult to deal with and yet it can be hard to imagine exercising in such a condition. However, certain exercises can help relieve the pain or even get rid of the pain.

Some of the best exercises for facet joint pain include walking, knee-to-chest exercises, and posterior pelvic tilt. Walking is the safest way to relieve the pressure caused by facet joint pain, while knee-to-chest exercise can also relieve the affected area, but also reduce inflammation. Posterior pelvic tilt can help build needed muscles to relieve the pain, but it’s important to stay consistent with it to make the muscles that surround the affected area stronger.

Best Exercises for Insulin Resistance

Regulating glucose levels in your body can feel like a difficult thing to do but you won’t have to lift heavy weights to do so. The best exercise for insulin resistance is walking. Grabbing a phone or a friend and going for a walk around your neighborhood can make a big difference to your body and how it regulates glucose.

While that’s just a start, you can mix it up with squats if you feel like using weights, burpees if you’re into cardio or HIIT training, and even yoga to keep your insulin in check. Another exercise you can do is swimming which can be pleasant and yet you can even build muscles if you stay consistent, as well as improve your metabolic health.

We recommend exercising at least 3 times a week. If you stay consistent, using any of the recommended exercises can help keep your insulin levels in check, as well as the way your body regulates glucose.

Best Exercises for Insomnia

Feeling like you need sleep but can’t fall asleep is tiring, but exercising and getting even more tired is the key to beating insomnia. If you don’t feel like getting out of bed and still can’t fall asleep, then breathing is the best exercise for you.

Controlling your breathing can help put your mind to use to take control of something to slow down your heart, which also helps you to relax more. But if you feel like getting out of bed, you can do much more than breathing and some of the exercises you can choose from include; resistance exercises, yoga, aerobics, lifting weights, and walking.

For some people, even getting out of bed, and focusing on something else for a little while before getting into bed again can have a good effect. You don’t need to go outside yet even walking throughout your home or apartment can have benefits. Combine this with breathing and focusing on a good book, and you can fall asleep with ease every time you practice any of these exercises. If you aren’t a big fan of yoga, we still recommend you give it a try because it combines both breathing and exercising, which makes a perfect combination.

Best Exercises for Knee Arthritis

Knee arthritis can be painful and you might not feel like getting any exercises done, but it’s important to keep your knees active and build the muscles surrounding the knees to elevate the pain and eliminate it.

Some of the best exercises for knee arthritis include quadriceps stretches, step-ups, resistance training (such as side steps with resistance bands), leg presses, leg lifts, seated knee raises with resistance bands, and even leg extensions. All of these exercises aim to improve mobility but also improve the strength of the muscles surrounding the knee. This way, you have a chance of fighting arthritis to the point where you eventually don’t feel much pain and discomfort from the moment you get up in the morning.

Many people might even avoid knee surgery by building the muscles that surround the knee, and if you feel like weight loss is something you’re interested in and might need – this could also be something that can combine exercising for two good causes. It’s important to exercise, stay consistent, and do all or some of these exercises daily.

Best Exercises for Neck Pain

Neck pain might make you feel like nothing will help and anything you do could potentially make things worse on the pain scale. However, certain exercises can help stretch the muscles and also build shoulder muscles to ensure that your neck doesn’t hurt after every sleep.

Best exercises for neck pain include simple things such as neck rotation and extension, but they can also include deep stretching, shoulder rolls, head tilts, and shoulder shrugs. Even lateral extensions can help as they help build the back and shoulder muscles that can ensure your neck isn’t very prone to injuries or conditions that can lead to a painful neck.

If you are experiencing extreme neck pain, you should start with the simplest exercises first. Moving your head to one side and holding it for a few seconds before returning your head to a default position is the best way to make progress without hurting yourself. These exercises take time, and relieving the pain isn’t immediate, so stick to these exercises daily to see results faster. On top of that, you can also experiment with hold and cold therapy to get faster neck pain relief.

Best Exercises for Shoulder Pain

Not every shoulder pain is a bad pain that should stop you from exercising. Instead, there are certain exercises you can do if you would like to relieve the pain but also continue working out and building your physique.

Some of the exercises we recommend for shoulder pain include shoulder rolls, doorway stretches, neck releases, and chest expansion. Most of these exercises will target your shoulder and light movement can help relieve the pain and even eliminate it for good. Other included exercises can help ensure that your shoulders get stronger and that they aren’t very prone to possible injuries and pain in the future.

If you’re looking for the fastest shoulder pain relief through exercising, try combining these exercises with enough rest, regular activities such as carrying grocery bags, and icing the inflammation shoulder areas. Some other exercises you can include in your routine (if you aren’t hurting too bad) include arm swings and circles, shoulder flex, side rotation, and wall slides. You can also experiment with light weight on exercises such as side rotation, as long as you feel that your shoulder can handle it without any further injury.

Best Exercises for Testosterone

When you want to boost your testosterone, exercises are one of the best natural ways to do so. Some of the best exercises to keep in mind for boosting testosterone include squats, bench presses, pushups, pull-ups, deadlifts, rows, and overhead presses.

These are some of the most standard exercises you might be already doing if you go to the gym. However, besides weight exercises, you can also do cardio such as sprints, rowing, and endurance training. At the same time, the earlier-mentioned exercises will also promote the building of lean muscle mass, as well as boost testosterone. On the other hand, cardio and endurance exercises will also help you burn calories and lose weight, boosting the metabolism. We highly recommend sticking with weight training and exercises because they boost testosterone levels much better while incorporating cardio at times is a smart idea. However, what we don’t recommend is only focusing on cardio or endurance training.

If you’re trying to naturally improve low testosterone, besides exercising, you should also keep a healthy diet, keep your weight in check, avoid tobacco and alcohol products, and even avoid pain medications.

Best Exercises for Thyroid Patients

The great thing about exercises for thyroid patients is that there are plenty of them and you get to have a wide range of choices. For example, some of the most suitable exercises for thyroid patients include yoga, resistance bands, elliptical machines, pilates, and even swimming.

Even walking at a decent pace can help and almost any other cardio exercise you can think of can have a good impact on thyroid patients. While these exercises won’t and can’t cure the root of the thyroid problem, they can help drastically by reducing the symptoms you might be experiencing. Having to deal with the symptoms isn’t always easy and while working out and exercising is hard, sticking to one or more of the exercises we recommend can make a big difference.

These exercises can also help you shed any extra weight and increase metabolism, which are also two of the important things for thyroid patients. One thing to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t do too much of these exercises, as you might get a reversed effect. Exercising too much as a thyroid patient can have a negative effect. Therefore, stick to a training that’s not too hard but not too light.

Best Exercise for Upper Back Pain

Upper back pain can make you feel like you can’t stand any longer on two feet and need some rest. But there’s a way to help relieve the pain and even improve the strength of your back so you can fight the upper back pain.

Therefore, the exercises we have in mind for upper back pain readers include standing shoulder exercises, side planks, shoulder pulls, ostrich exercises, and infraspinatus exercises. These exercises might seem a little bit too specific, but the reason behind the selection of these exercises lies in the relaxation of the upper back muscles.

Tense back muscles won’t lead to a relief and instead, focusing on the groups of muscles and exercises we recommend can help relieve the upper back pain. We also recommend doing all of the mentioned exercises for the best results, and on top of that, you can also use heating pads to reduce the stiffness of the upper back. On the other hand, if you’re dealing with swelling and need relief, besides these exercises, also use ice packs to get relief and reduce the inflammation.

Conclusion

Exercise might not be on your mind if you’re experiencing any of these health issues, but there are best exercises for people with health issues for a reason. Whether you need to relieve the pain, get some better support for the muscles or bones, or improve your overall health and prevent further injuries, these are some of the best exercises to get the help you need.

Since every condition is different, it’s hard to give general advice but luckily, we wrote this long article where you can specifically find exercises and advice on how to take care of your health issue and how to improve it with the help of the exercise.

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