“Should I exercise if I have ankle arthritis?”

check with a PT first

Yes, everything to tolerance and with a support brace. I've afterwards if swollen.

Yes, exercising will help the arthritis in the ankle by keeping the muscles in the ankle strong to stabilize the joint. However, it would be best to be cautious with the type of exercises. I would not recommend high impact types of exercises like running or sprinting on concrete or asphalt. Low impact exercises would be best, such as bicycles, ellipticals, and resistant training.

To answer your question exercise is a broad term. You should avoid high impact activities with ankle arthritis, but exercise like on a bicycle or a glide machine would be less of an impact. But simple active range of motion while sitting and moving the foot in all directions like in Writing the alphabet With your foot, then using a Thera band for some resistance in those directions would be beneficial to the muscles around the ankle and foot.

Yes however I would avoid impact activities such as running and jumping. Swimming is a wonderful exercise for arthritis is any joint.

Great question! Arthritis is so painful it causes some people to not exercise out of concern that it may damage their joints. But, what science tells us is this: There are three things that help slow the progression of arthritis and improve joint function 1. Moving the joint through its range of motion (Ie: moving your ankle up,down and around in circles) 2. Strengthening the muscles around the arthritic joint, The stronger the muscles, the more you prevent artritis from worsening. Weak ankle joints wear out fast. Stronger ankles are less painful and stay better, longer. Stand on a step/stair with your heels hanging off the step. hold on to the rail and raise your heel as high as you can then lower it as low as you can (that helps with #1 and 2 above) 3. Keep the joints aligned. A joint that is poorly aligned (like knock knees, etc) wears out faster. Sometimes gentle chiropractic care (I recommend and do Activator Methods) can be helpful to re-align the bones around any joint, including the ankle. This gives relief to many patients. So, there you have it. YES to exercise! But always, start slowly and gradually to increase your strength and range of motion. Hope this helps!