Technology can provide really useful tools for improving your health and fitness and, importantly, can help you track your progress to help maintain your motivation. It can also be really helpful when managing a condition like axial spondyloarthritis to limit the symptoms you experience and monitor them. I’d like to share some apps that may be useful for you to improve your health and work towards your goals.
Goal Setting
Firstly, you need to get your goal clear in your mind and set realistic expectations. Then when you’re progressing towards your goal, it’s handy to have gentle reminders and motivators. There are a couple of apps I’ve found that provide just that:
Strides: Goal & Habit Tracker (Free)
This app is great for setting goals including exercise, weight loss, hydration, sleep, meditation and finances. You can set the goal, change the duration and how often you want to log your progress.
Done: A Simple Habit Tracker (Free and premium)
A simple way to track your goals each day and get ‘streaks’ to encourage you to be consistent. I love the visuals of this app and how easy it is to use.
Symptom Tracking
MySpA
This app uses the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis questionnaire to track your axial spondyloarthritis symptoms for your information and to share with your doctor. It can be helpful to view your symptoms over time and serve as a reminder of how things have felt between check-ups. It can also be beneficial to monitor changes over time after starting a new medication or fitness regime. The app also includes lots of exercises and allows you to create your own plan.
Food Tracking
In the world of diets, fads and trends it can be difficult to find the right kind of app. Depending on your goal, there are a number to choose from. If you’re looking to lose weight, I’d recommend:
Lose It! (Free and In-App Purchases)
This isn’t just a calorie-counting app, those can have quite limited effects, Lose It! also tracks nutrients. A fun feature is being able to track meals by taking photos of them, for those of us who enjoy doing that..!
My Fitness Pal (Free and In-App Purchases)
This is another great food-tracking app, but it also has a barcode scanner for food products and syncs with other fitness apps such as Fitbit and Strava.
If you’re aiming to improve your nutrition, try:
Forks Over Knives (£4.99)
Find over 400 plant-based, whole-food recipes that can inspire you to be more adventurous with meals and improve your nutrition too.
One You Easy Meals (Free)
Developed by Public Health England, this app has over 150 easy recipes with the option to create a shopping list.
Exercise Tracking
Fitbit (Free app, you have to purchase the wearable).
Depending on what you want to achieve, there are a number of different options for the wearables. If you only want to walk more, a simple step counter would be sufficient. If you want more detailed analysis, some Fitbit devices offer lots of options including heart rate and sleep monitoring.
One You Active 10 Walk Tracker (Free)
Developed by Public Health England, this app allows you to track your walking goals and gradually build up.
Workout Apps
As always, with starting new exercises take care and start gently to gradually build up over time. If you have an injury or pre-existing problem, check with your doctor or manual therapist prior to starting. There are various different apps providing workouts you can follow, here are my recommendations.
Back to Action (NASS) App (Free)
This app is full of workouts that are safe and helpful for people with axial SpA (AS). The plans work on improving mobility, cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility and breathing. It also has information you can show to your personal trainer in the gym to advise them about your condition.
Couch to 5K App- Public Health England (Free)
This app helps people with no running routine reach the point where they can walk/run 5k in nine weeks. It gives you planned runs with celebrity trainers (!) to guide you with information of when to run and walk. It also provides plenty of tips for new runners to make it easier and safer if running is new to you.
Strava Running and Cycling (Free and Premium Available)
The app uses your phone GPS to record the distance, time and speed. You can also set reminders for workouts so you remember to record them with the Strava app. Premium members can set goals and track weekly and annual progress.
Yoga Wake Up (Subscription)
This is my idea of a perfect start to the day! The app provides a morning yoga reminder at your wake up time with a 10-minute yoga routine using the Yoga Wake Up app. It also has guided meditations to use in the evenings that may help you sleep.
Freeletics (Free and Subscription)
I’m always advising patients to use their body weight for exercise to strengthen muscles and reduce body fat. This app provides just that! The free account has plenty of workout routines with video guides, while the subscription gives full access and coaches.
Nike Run Club (Free)
This is like a social media and running tracker hybrid!
7-Min Workout: Fitness App (Subscription)
Perfect when you’re short for time, as the name suggests, this app provides 7-minute workouts that you can do anywhere!
Relaxation
You often can’t change the stressful situations in your life, but sometimes you can reduce the physical and emotional impact of them. Try these apps and see if they help you.
Calm (Free and Premium)
This app provides guided meditations, including specific ones for stress, anxiety, helping sleep and promoting happiness.
Headspace (Subscription)
Another great guided meditation app!
H*nest Meditation App (£1.99)
I’ll admit, this isn’t for everyone… In their own words, H*nest is “mindfulness for the rest of us. This is a guided meditation that contains 2, 5, 10 and 15 minutes versions of the popular online video, combining peaceful meditation with a pinch of salty language”. It goes without saying, wear headphones for this one!
Power Nap App (Free and in-app purchases)
Oh the joys of a good power nap! If you regularly feel sleepy in the day, it’s always best to take a look at your sleep patterns, diet and lifestyle to see if there’s an underlying cause. If it’s fatigue related to your axial SpA (AS) and you’re in need of the occasional power nap, the Power Nap App is great!
Breathing Exercises
Wim Hof Method (free and premium)
This app includes guided breathing exercises and information about the Wim Hof Method. If you want to take part in the cold water challenge, check with your doctor first.
Oak – Meditation and Breathing (Free and in-app purchases)
This app has simple guided meditations and breathing exercises. I love the visuals of this app and the ability to track your progress.
Hopefully these will provide some inspiration to help you increase your activity, improve your fitness or mental health and track your axial SpA (AS). Please leave a comment if there’s an app you’d recommend that I haven’t mentioned. If you have any questions, please get in touch!
Zoë Clark is an osteopath living with axial SpA herself and has joined the NASS Helpline team to help with the unprecedented demand over COVID-19. You may have seen her blog posts previously written for NASS and she spoke at the latest parliamentary meeting in January and appeared on Channel 5 News. She’s joining the NASS team to help you keep active and feeling well during this difficult time of isolation.
Zoë is available on the Helpline each day, so if you’d like to have a chat then please get in touch and we can arrange a call. She’ll also be sharing some of her top tips and answering any common questions, so please let us know in the comments if there’s any particular advice you’d like.
The Helpline is open 1000-1600 Monday to Friday on 020 8741 1515 or you can email zoe@nass.co.uk
