Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Alternatives and ALCHEMISTS Running jogging

do any of you run or jog??
my wife started and Iwould like to join her but I worry it might affect my back.

I'm currently on hiatus from running/jogging because of my pregnancy, but before I got pregnant and even into my first few months, I ran.
I ran a 15k in April of last year and a 1/2 marathon in October. Some days were better than others, but all in all, I had a blast running.
One piece of advice if you do, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I have always pushed myself and I know when it's time to stop. If you do that and you are in decent enough condition minus the arthritis, I think you should be ok. Of course, that's just my personal opinion and it's how I operated my running/jogging regimen. Some days I could go 5+ miles without feeling a thing and other days, I barely made 1 and had to call it day. I learned real fast not to push through all the pain I felt. I had to distinguish the ok pain from the "it's time to stop now" pain. Once I figured that out, I did pretty good.
Good Luck with your running, should you chose to take it up.
Oh yeah, it was a GREAT stress reliever for me too!

I had always enjoyed running before AS, but had to give it up when my symptoms started. The first pain and stiffnesss presented themselves in my feet, and before long, I could barely walk, let alone run. After about 9 months, my doc started me on methotrexate, and within 12 weeks, the pain had subsided enough that I could slowly begin to jog again. I had to start out real slow, barely any faster than a quick walking pace, since I had lost so much muscle and flexibility in about a year of limping around. That was about 2 years ago, and by now, I have gained back most of what I lost, except for sprinting speed. Like sarah said, you just have to listen to your body. You will be able to tell the difference between the "stiffness" pain that will work itself out as you run and the "flare-up" pain that feels like it is causing damage. Start out with a slow pace and work yourself up from there. make sure to stretch afterwards, especially your back, to increase and maintain your flexibility. I try to give myself a day in between runs as to not overstress my joints, but there are days that the stiffness in my back, feet, and hip feels better after running. give it a shot. good luck!

Hi - anytime I tried to run, I would end up nearly a cripple, and take weeks to recover. I could never figure it out, and would always gaze at joggers in amazement, wondering how they could do it. Until I was diagnosed, now I know why, its just me, most people can run without these problems. I wouldn't dare try and run now. But amazingly some people with AS seem to be able to do it, so you can just give it a try and see what happens, although I can't imagine myslef. Bike riding is great, as long as I have a bike where I can sit up tall, no leaning over, its great for my posture. Maybe you can ride along side you wife when she runs?

Have you tried swimming? It's wonderful for AS, no stress on the joints and a full body workout - good cardio, strength and toning. Find a warm pool though, hopefully you have a YMCA nearby.

When enbrel was working for me, I used to jog about 5km every day or every second day. My body, however, appreciated the every-second-day routine better. My doc advised me to not run, but I never was one to colour within the lines. Odd because usually my pain/stiffness would decrease when I had my jogging routine down to a science.
Like everyone else so far, I have to say listening to your body is key. Figure out what you can handle and gradually build up your distance. And get really good shoes!

I have been keeping an incipient AS at bay for many years through running and swimming, and recently I have taken up cycling in order to do triathlons. All these endurance sports are great for building aerobic fitness and core strength, and swimming and cycling in particular are good for retaining and improving movement in the lower spine.

As for running I think the Pose Method (see http://www.posetech.com/) may be best for AS sufferers (and probably for most others as well), as it takes much stress off the knee joints and spine. This is achieved through briefly landing on the midfoot instead of heavily pounding on the heels. This in turn will make very little of the impact force from ground contact to travel up the body. Special drills are available to learn the correct running technique. Some adaptation is probably needed at the beginning. If walking is something that you are comfortable with and can do regularly, a good way of getting started running is to add some short runs (a minute or so) during your next walk. Gradually increase the duration of these runs until your walk has turned into a more or less continuous run. Gradually increase mileage or intensity, but not at the same time. Back down occasionally, or mix in some cycling or other cross-training to give your joints, ligaments, and muscles some rest. If done correctly and if pain isn't so bad as to prevent you from getting started in the first place (for me the main purpose of occasionally taking pain medication is to be able to exercise, which is my true remedy), pose drills and easy running should do no harm to the back. More likley, the upper body rotation involved in running along with the core strengthening effect should do good to the back. Anticipate only positive effects! Any back pain after the first few times is probably muscular in nature and should be nothing to worry about.

I'm also a strong proponent of swimming. Because of the support from the water you get almost weightless, which make swimming very gentle to the body. Front and back crawl are swim strokes that are based on body rotation, and are therefore excellent exercises for spine mobility. Properly learned front crawl swimming will allow for hours of effective training in the pool (see the Total Immersion website at http://www.totalimmersion.net to learn how this can be achieved through special drills). If you know how to swim butterfly, using proper body undulation (AKA the dolphin kick), it is a great way of improving core strength and pushing your anaerobic threshold; a few laps (or even strokes) of butterfly will make most people pant enough to improve chest expansion and breathing capacity. If swimming feels awkward, another option for exercising in the water is wearing a Wet Vest ("water running").

In summary, triathlon training, including swimming, cycling, running, resistance training (for muscular balance and strength) and stretching (for flexibility and as an antidote to muscle soreness from working out), is an ideal way to combat many of the ill effects of AS. Because of the inherent cross-training and variation it is possible to exercise daily. Other endurance sports involving the core, such as kayaking and crosscountry skiing, are of course also great to throw into the mix.

Good luck,

Michael