Join Walk With Ease program at Care Connection
Care Connection is happy to offer the Arthritis Foundation Walk With Ease program online and through our West Central Missouri community of Senior Centers near you. This is a fun, structured walking program for those with arthritis symptoms and osteoarthritis.
What is the Walk With Ease Program?
Designed to get people moving, comprehensive studies have shown that Walk With Ease can help you lose weight and inches. Imagine gaining friends while you manage your pain and improve your mobility!
This community-based physical activity and self-management education program helps you:
- Set realistic goals with a personal walking plan that will meet your needs.
- Learn the basics of arthritis symptom management in an understanding group setting.
- Gain motivational strategies you can use every day.
You can count on this evidence-based program to help you loosen up stiffness and feel better. Join us and take the steps proven to help reduce your joint pain.
How to Participate in Walk With Ease
First, you’ll take an instructor-led group class for six weeks. Learn how to exercise safely and comfortably at your own pace, working your way up to 150 minutes of walking a week.
The class is free to participants. All levels of fitness are welcome at Care Connection’s Walk With Ease program!
Sign up for your choice of class format. We offer an online class through Zoom, or you can join a local group starting at the Care Connection community of Senior Centers.
- Zoom classes meet twice a week.
- In-person community classes meet three times a week.
Walk With Ease training includes health education for better health. You’ll receive a guidebook for stretching and strengthening exercises, and motivational strategies.
During each class, a trained group exercise leader leads a pre-walk discussion covers a specified topic related to exercise and arthritis. This is followed by a 10- to 40-minute walk that includes:
- Warm up
- Stretching
- Walk
- Cool Down
- Stretching
Proven Benefits of Walk With Ease
This safe and effective program is proven by research to show overall improvements for people with arthritis or other related conditions:
- Reduce the pain and discomfort from arthritis.
- Increase balance, strength, and walking pace.
- Improve overall health.
- Decrease in negative feelings like frustration, depression, and helplessness.
Working together, participants find the confidence they need to make Walk With Ease an ongoing part of their lives.
Research Proves Overall Improvements
A study by the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina shows that Walk With Ease improves functional ability and reduces stiffness. In addition, participants reported increased confidence.
Socialize with a fun group of seniors just like you. You’ll love the camaraderie and boost of morale!