Exercise therapy, also known as sports therapy, is a method of treating diseases with sports or physical exercise. It is the patient’s self-treatment, shall be self-exercise by the patient; it is both local and systemic treatment, muscle activity can not only play an exercise effect on local tissues, but also have a positive impact on the whole body organs, thus speeding up the recovery of the disease. (1) Treatment purpose: exercise therapy for rheumatoid arthritis has three main purposes: (1) to maintain or improve the function and range of motion of diseased joints; (2) to prevent muscle atrophy; and (3) to invigorate the patient’s spirit, increase physical strength and evoke confidence in the fight against the disease. Therefore, it is also an effective psychological treatment. Wang Yijun, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Wangjing Hospital, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2) Forms of movement: There are two forms of movement: one is active movement, which is the main form of movement and is done by the patient’s initiative in the form of muscles; the other is passive movement, which refers to movement done with the help of external forces. The external force can be mechanical, but also the force of others or my healthy limbs to assist. It is applicable to the movement disorders of limbs caused by various reasons, and can play the role of relaxing spasm, preventing adhesion of muscles, stretching contracted tendons and ligaments, and restoring and maintaining joint mobility. For patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis who cannot get up, this exercise is used most often and can be used as a preparation for active exercise. (3) Method: The “joint gymnastics” program for arthritis is a common exercise therapy and is performed as follows: ① Finger joint exercises: alternate between fist clenching and finger flattening. When clenching a fist, you can hold a pencil or a thicker stick; when stretching, you can put your palm and fingers flat against the table, or put both hands together with force. ② wrist joint exercises: both hands together, repeatedly alternating force to the side of flexion and extension, can also clutch a dumbbell to do finger flexion and extension movement. Elbow joint exercises: palms up, both arms forward flat, quickly clenched fist and flexion of the elbow, efforts to make the fist up to the shoulder, and then quickly stretch palm and elbow, repeatedly for many times, and then both arms to both sides flat, clenched fist and flexion of the elbow movement as before. ④Shoulder joint exercise: one arm from the front from the neck side to the back, palm touching the back, while the other arm from the side (armpit) to the back, fingers touching the back, try to make the fingers of both hands in the back close, repeated several times a day. ⑤ Ankle joint exercise: take a sitting position, flexion and extension of the ankle joint and rotation movement on both sides respectively. (6) Knee and hip exercises: alternate between squatting and forward leg lifting exercises. Note: Exercise therapy should be carried out under the guidance of a doctor according to the condition.