Which exercises actually helped your knees, and which ones set you back?

Ten years into osteoarthritis in both knees, right one worse, and I'm having a sort-out of my exercise routine because honestly half of it seems to be doing more harm than good. Physio gave me a sheet years ago: straight leg raises, sit to stands, mini squats, step downs off the bottom stair.

The leg raises and the exercise bike, no problem, knees actually feel better the day after. But every time I do the step downs my right knee flares up for two or three days. Not sore-muscle sore, ARTHRITIS sore, swollen and grumpy on the stairs. Mini squats are somewhere in between depending on the day.

So what I want to know from people who've been at this a while: which exercises earned their keep for you, and which ones did you quietly drop? Am I doing the step downs wrong or are some exercises just not for some knees?

Water is the answer nobody wants to hear because it means going to the pool. Walking lengths in chest-deep water and the aqua classes did more for my knees than anything I did on land, and sit to stands from a normal height chair, dozens a day, spread out. Anything with impact or a deep bend I gave up on years ago and I don't miss it.

Walking itself can be the exercise if you manage it. Our group does flat routes, I use poles on anything with a slope, and I learned the hard way that two shorter walks beat one heroic one.

The other thing that changed everything for me was how I handle a flare. I used to stop completely for a week, then start back at the old level and flare again. Now a flare means two easy days, gentle movement, then build back up. The knee seems to forgive that much quicker.

For what it's worth I dropped step downs too. My physio swapped them for the same movement but using a shallower step and holding the banister, and that version I can live with.

A pattern worth naming in this thread, because it comes up in clinic constantly. With an arthritic knee the useful distinction is between soreness and harm. Muscles working feel achy and settle within a day or so; a joint that swells and stays irritable for two or three days is telling you the dose was too high for it, which is what Pete describes with the step downs. That usually means the exercise needs shrinking (shallower range, some support, fewer repetitions) rather than abandoning, and a physiotherapist who can watch you do it is the right person to make that call for your knee.

Nobody should read one member's routine as a prescription for their own joint. The site's guide to the alternatives to knee replacement covers what the evidence actually shows about exercise, weight and the rest of the non-surgical toolkit, and why strengthening remains the single best-supported of them, flares and all.

Late to this but the bike deserves more love. Dropping my saddle a touch and spinning an easier gear got rid of the front-of-knee niggle, and it's the one exercise I've never once flared from.

Two months on, reporting back. Dropped the full step downs, doing Sue's banister version off a shallower step, kept the bike and leg raises, added one pool session a week (Maureen you were right, I hate that you're right).

Right knee still grumbles, it's still arthritis, nothing cures that. But I haven't had a proper multi-day flare since the end of April, which is the longest run in about a year. The change one thing at a time approach seems to be the trick.