Living Rheumatoid Arthritis

Linda's Success Story

Linda was referred by her physician 12 years ago to try a low impact form of exercise to keep her moving. She has lived with Rheumatoid Arthritis for 25 years. Linda's doctor is one of the top RA specialists in California and she has had every kind of drug therapy on the market. The drugs do keep her RA in check, keeping the swelling and pain down. When she walked into my studio she trudged along slowly and was obviously having a lot of trouble moving.
We started very slowly and did only about 1/2 an hour of Pilates on the Reformer. It was a revalation for her to feel good that she could move and do some kind of exercise at all. She took breaks for water and sitting up during those 1/2 hour sessions. Within a few weeks she was doing 5 minutes more each time we met. Linda has been coming to my studio now for 12 years and has progressed into doing a full hour including many advanced exercises. Her doctor monitors her very carefully and has told me whatever you are doing keep it up! There is no cure for RA and without medication things can get very bad. But together with medical help and patience with exercise such as Pilates in a very controlled manner life can be managable and even good.