The Arthritis Foundation’s Walk With Ease Program Your guide to walking for better health, improved fitness and less pain Whether you need relief from arthritis pain or just want to be active, the Arthritis Foundation’s six week Walk With Ease program can guide you to safely make physical activity a routine part of your everyday life.

What is the Walk With Ease Program? 6-week structured program for adults with arthritis that includes walking at least 3x/week Offers you a choice of doing the program on your own in a self-guided format or participating in an instructor-led, group class Everyone receives the Walk With Ease Workbook You learn about proper stretching and strengthening exercises, motivational strategies, health education for symptom management, as well as how to build stamina and walking pace. Walk With Ease is a six-week that meets 3 times per week You have the choice of doing the program on your own in a self-guided format or participating in an instructor-led, group class The program includes brief educational lectures (“lecturettes”), warm up exercises, walking at your own pace, and cool-down exercises. In the program, you learn about safe and proper exercise, symptom management, and how to motivate yourself to do the things for your body we know help with arthritis. All participants receive the Walk With Ease Workbook shown here.

How Could Walk With Ease Help Me? Understand the basics of arthritis and its relationship with exercise and pain Learn how to exercise safely and comfortably Learn and use methods to make walking fun Develop and implement a personal walking plan with realistic goals for improved fitness Gather tips, strategies and resources to help you stick with an exercise routine over the long term The Walk With Ease program can help you to: Understand the basics about arthritis and the relationship between arthritis, exercise and pain Learn how to exercise safely and comfortably Use methods to make walking fun Make a personal walking plan with realistic goals for improved fitness, and it can help you to Gather tips, strategies and resources that will help participants “stick with it,” even when they don’t feel like exercising or when things get in the way In addition, the Workbook includes information about other programs and resources that can help you keep up your walking and even branch out to other exercise and self-management programs that other people with arthritis enjoy.

How could Walk With Ease help me? Walk With Ease is an evidence-based program that helps participants: improve arthritis symptoms (pain, stiffness) increase arthritis self-management increase balance, strength, and walking pace People who are physically active are healthier, feel better, and live longer than people who are inactive. Research studies support the benefits people can gain from regular exercise, as well as the fact that most people with arthritis can safely get all the benefits of exercise without causing harm or worsening symptoms. Walk With Ease is an evidence-based program, which means that it is proven to work. Walk With Ease participants have been shown to experience: improved arthritis symptoms (pain, stiffness) increased arthritis self-management for handling symptoms, and the program increased balance, strength, and walking pace Callahan, L., Shreffler, J., Altpeter, M., Schoster, B., Hootman, J., Houenou, L., Martin, K., & Schwartz, T. (2011). Evaluation of Group and Self-Directed Formats of the Arthritis Foundation¹s (AF) Walk with Ease (WWE) Program, Arthritis Care & Research, 63(8): 1098–1107. DOI: 10.1002/acr.20490.

Is Walk With Ease for me? Designed mainly for Adults with arthritis who are inactive Adults with arthritis who want to maintain an active lifestyle But you must be able to be on your feet for 10 minutes without increased pain To answer the question, “Is Walk With Ease for me?, Let’s look at who the program is designed for. Walk With Ease was developed specifically for adults who have arthritis who haven’t been very active, or maybe not active at all, but want to incorporate walking into their lives as a way to maintain an active lifestyle. A program requirement is that you must be able to be on your feet for 10 minutes without increased pain. - For example, when doing things like household chores, shopping or social activities. Adults who don’t have arthritis may also find the program beneficial. The program is designed for a range of activity levels, from adults who may be new to physical activity and beginners in a walking program to those adults who have been physically active. Others who might want to join: Those without arthritis who want to start and/or maintain an active lifestyle

Choose How You Would Like to Walk! Learn to walk safely and comfortably  Self Guided With the Walk With Ease program, you can choose how you would like to walk. There are two program formats – self-guided and instructor-led group. So if you think you Walk With Ease might be a good fit for you, the next step would be to pick which format you prefer.  Instructor–led Group

Choose How You Would Like to Walk: Self-Guided Format Self-paced, 6-week program Read a chapter a week in the Workbook Your are encouraged to build up to walking at least 30 minutes or more on 5 or more days Can use the Workbook or the WWE Mobile App to record and report progress In the Self-guided format, You do the 6-week program on your own, at your own pace Each week, you read a chapter in the Workbook. The early chapters will help you get started by picking the right shoes to wear, the right places to walk and determining what goals are important to you. At the start, you determine how much walking is feasible for you and then you’re encouraged to build up to walking at least 30 minutes or more on 5 or more days You can use the Workbook or the WWE Mobile App to record and report progress

Choose How You Would Like To Walk: Group 60-minute sessions, three times per week for six weeks Small class sizes of 12-15 help encourage participation and interaction A trained leader: Provides short “lecturettes” based on Workbook content Facilitates discussions Leads walking and exercises Participants are asked to read 1 chapter/week in the Workbook If you prefer the instructor-led group format, there will be a trained leader who offers very short lectures known as “lecturettes” based on Workbook content, facilitates discussions, and who leads walking and exercises Class sessions last for 60 minutes and are held three times a week for the six weeks of the program, and you’ll be encouraged to try to walk on your own time at least two other times in the week You will still receive a copy of the Workbook, and the instructor will encourage you to read a chapter a week in it. The recommended class size is about 12-15 people. Keeping the class small, helps encourage group discussions about the Workbook readings or how their walking is going, and helps ensure greater support among participants. In some cases, where’s there’s more than one instructor, class size might be larger

What’s in the Walk With Ease Workbook? Information about arthritis, symptom management and exercise Walking instructions Exercises Motivational tools, strategies, and resources Regardless of whichever format you select, you’ll use the Walk With Ease Workbook which will help you learn to walk safely and comfortably. This Workbook has all kinds of information in it, including: Health information to gain an understanding of the basics of arthritis, and the relationships between arthritis, exercise and pain Walking instructions on how to exercise safely and comfortably Exercises for stretching before and after walking and also exercises for strengthening your legs And motivational tools and strategies to help you develop and implement a doable walking plan along with tips, strategies and resources to help you maintain a regular walking routine. The Workbook is divided into 6 chapters and it also has an Appendices that include self-tests to measure how you’re doing, along with action plans, diaries, and pictures and instructions of how to do the exercises.

Tools in the Workbook and Online Get Baseline Set Goals Measure Progress Compare Results These are examples of how the workbook helps people identify and set goals and determine if the goal helped. The tools used in Walk With Ease are provided in the Workbook and also are available online. These include: The Starting Point Self-test where you rate the problems you experience associated with arthritis such as pain, fatigue, and physical limitations. Your Starting Point Self-test score can guide you in choosing which parts of the book and the Walk With Ease program will be particularly important to you. Another group of tools are for planning walking goals and tracking walking activities. Research has shown that people who make plans of action – and write them down and review each week – have greater success in meeting their goals than people who don’t make written plans. So you’ll be encouraged to set up a doable plan for how much walking you want to do and also to keep a diary where you can ask yourself: “What’s helping me to keep walking?” “What’s been a challenge for me to keep walking?” “What information do I need to help me handle the challenges and where can I get it?” The Ending Point Self-test helps you to rate your progress at the end of the six-week program and to compare these results with your Starting Point Self-test.

The Walk With Ease Workbook is available for purchase online (in English and Spanish) As you can see, the Walk With Ease Workbook is full of very useful information and can be a resource to refer over time. It is available for purchase online in English and Spanish. Just go to the Arthritis Foundation store at www.afstore.org and type in Walk With Ease.

Walk With Ease Tools Available Online Whichever way you choose to participate, there are many more Walk With Ease tools to compliment what you’re doing. They are available online at the Arthritis Foundation website, including a link to locating programs in your area.

Walk With Ease App There also is a Walk With Ease App that you can download to your phone or iPad that you can use to track your progress

What Participants are saying about Walk With Ease? “Feeling better and building friendships are two of the main program incentives of Walk With Ease.” “It gave me a lift for the day – not only physically, but in my mood, too.” “I’m so glad I started walking. I find it to be good for everything. It lowers my blood pressure, my back is better and my glucose level is better. It simply improves everything.” Even though arthritis can’t be cured, physical activity is one of the primary things people can do to help manage it. Making walking a part of your routine is part of adopting a healthy lifestyle, and that’s what the Arthritis Foundation’s Walk With Ease program is all about. But sometimes, hearing what others who have been in the program have to say is just as important. Here are real comments from real people who participated in Walk With Ease: “Feeling better and building friendships are two of the main program incentives of Walk With Ease.” “It gave me a lift for the day – not only physically, but in my mood, too.” “I’m so glad I started walking. I find it to be good for everything. It lowers my blood pressure, my back is better and my glucose level is better. It simply improves everything.” So, if you want to develop a lifestyle of safe and comfortable walking that could provide many health benefits to you, give Walk With Ease a try!!!

This video was created by the Osteo Arthritis Action Alliance (OAAA) based at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Recreation and Parks Association. The production of this video was supported by Grant No. 1 NU58DP006262-01-00 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the OAAA and do not necessarily represent the official views of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.