Osteoarthritis can be managed in many ways. Your goal should be to self-manage your daily activities with little intervention from medications, therapy or surgery. Exercise is the cheapest and easiest way to do this. Physical activities, as stated earlier, have many benefits. Taking control of your activity level enables you to manage your progress by making exercise a daily habit you don't need to be reminded about.

The first step in managing your physical activity level is to assess where you are now. Make a list of your activities or check the What is My Activity Now? tool for help. Once you see how much you do or don't do in your daily life, ask yourself what you want to do more of. Do you want to play on the floor with your children/grandchildren? Would you like to walk through the grocery store without pain or to not use the cart for assistance? Make some goals and put a date on them. Then go see your doctor before implementing your plan. He or she will help you make attainable goals while keeping your health in mind. Together, use the Exercise Calendar to schedule activities. You are now set to start.

To manage your arthritis through exercise, you will need to be diligent. Just as you are sure to keep a lunch date with a friend or a doctor's appointment, make sure you keep your exercise date. Do not skip it unless you are in too much pain to do it. When you exercise, notice how you feel. If you experience any pain, ease up or stop what you are doing. Listening to your body is important because it will let you know what it can and can't do.

In self-managing exercise, it is important to realize we all have faults. Falling off a routine is only normal-just make sure you get back to it. Things that can help are:

• Keeping a positive attitude.
• Doing something you love-walk, do leg lifts while watching the morning news, enroll in the community arthritis water class.
• Doing a little exercise when you don't feel like doing any-it counts no matter what!
• Making short-term goals that you can accomplish. As long as you do it, you are one more step toward a habit.
• Using your calendar to check your results every weekend. Give yourself a small reward if you stuck to your program most of the time, or something bigger if you did it every day you said you would.
• Exercising with people who enjoy the same activities. If you go walking, ask a neighbor or your partner to come along. Support is important for maintaining a new activity.