Gauge an Athlete Not by Medals but Mettle

I am an athlete.

I am not on a team. I am not in training for a competition. I couldn’t even participate in physical education during high school.

Still, I am an athlete.

Today, at the age of 30, I love to move, to feel the power of my body. However, movement has not come easily for me. I have lived my entire life with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Over the years my body has, at times, felt like it was breaking from swollen, painful joints that refused to cooperate. During high school and college, I weighed more than 210 pounds and each movement, each step I took was an effort. I didn’t feel much like an athlete back then. Moving my body hurt, and I was ashamed.

Today, however, I write to you as an athlete because I have learned that every person, no matter what his or her ability, can become one.

My training began with my entry into the Arthritis Foundation’s Aquatic Program. I was embarrassed when I first began the class because I was slow and every movement I made was labored. I was only 16, but I felt like I was 100. Yet, something happened in that pool program. For the first time, I could walk weightless and without pain.

Slowly, with the encouragement of my fellow athletes, I began to feel like I had some control over my body. I actually began to feel athletic, as if I had joined my own Olympic training team. This program taught me that exercise could feel good--make my joints looser, my muscles stronger and my energy level higher. My transformation did not occur overnight. During the last 10 years, I have evolved from a hesitant participant to a confident exercise instructor and trainer for the Arthritis Foundation.

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Many people are misinformed about arthritis. They think arthritis is a disease of their grandparents. Arthritis actually affects more than 40 million Americans, including more than 300,000 children, and arthritis is the No. 1 cause of loss of movement in the United States. And while arthritis can, at times, seem like an overwhelming challenge, there are steps that people can take to help improve their quality of life.

Numerous studies have shown that exercise for people with arthritis is extremely important and can reduce pain and disability as well as improve function. The thought of exercise can be intimidating when you are hurting, but people with arthritis need to know that exercise is only going to improve their overall functioning by keeping bones, muscles and joints healthy. It is all about exercising smart--focusing on joint range of motion, strengthening and endurance activities that work with a person’s ability and not against it. Your exercise program should focus on having fun and feeling better.

On certain days, when my rheumatoid arthritis is at its worst, my greatest athletic endeavor is just to get out of bed. Yet, I still take my stiff joints through range-of-motion exercises because these movements help to maintain my joint mobility. If I do absolutely nothing, I only feel weaker and stiffer.

When my body is feeling better, I relish the opportunity to do strengthening and endurance exercises. I enjoy varying my routine to include water exercise, stationary bicycling, walking and appropriate weight training. I need to listen to my body and balance rest with activity.

Moving will always be a challenge for me, but today I carry the spirit of an athlete. Exercise has changed me physically and mentally. I have more confidence, and I know that even on those really bad days I can do something to help myself.

Every time I teach an exercise class, I meet more athletes like myself--people who realize that the opportunity to be stronger and more active is found within each of us every time we move our joints, strengthen our muscles and feel our hearts pound a little bit harder.

We may never slam-dunk a basketball or run a marathon. But in the end, the most important aspect to becoming an athlete is believing that you are one.

And I am an athlete.

* Carolyn S. Dodge is a teacher and trainer at the Arthritis Foundation, Southern California Chapter. Call (800) 954-CURE for information on exercise classes and self-help courses. Web site: https://www.arthritis.org.