Exercising three hours a week can help reduce arthritis pain

A new study has revealed that arthritis patients can beat their agonizing pain by exercising three hours a week.

According to the researchers, the three-hours-a-week programme, which was devised in the US, has proved to be so successful that GPs are being urged to prescribe it to Britain's 10 million sufferers to reduce pain levels, the Daily Express reported.

The first exercise is to stand upright from a seated position then sit again without using your arms, while in the second, outstretched arms are used to reach toes from a sitting position with knees straight and the third involves walking as quickly as possible around the home for six minutes.

It was found that at the end of a trial of the regime, average pain rating for participants had fallen to 4.3 out of 10 from 4.7 and sufferers of chronic joint inflammation saw "significant improvements" in pain relief, stiffness and tiredness after just three months.

Dr Sara Wilcox, of the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina, which carried out the study, said that this adds a more flexible format to the existing list of evidence-based programmes and it may appeal to subgroups of the arthritis population with less access to community programmes.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.