When Sandra Doolan was diagnosed with osteoarthritis she wasn't much of a one for exercise.
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"I'd never played sport in my life," she says. "I wasn't a great exercise person."
Finding the motivation not only to start but to keep it up regularly seemed like a difficult task.
So when she read in the paper there was a Bendigo group running special classes for arthritis sufferers she decided to give it a try.
Ten years later Sandra is still going to the sessions twice a week and is both president and treasurer of the Bendigo Arthritis Club which runs them.
"When you get educated about arthritis, you realise that exercise is important," she says.
And while there is a risk of overdoing it, generally speaking, "the more you exercise, the less pain you'll feel," she says.
"There's also the social aspect. People become rather good friends with each other in the group."
The president-secretary hopes to boost the club's membership, which dropped dramatically during the Coronavirus pandemic.
"We've got between 40 and 50 members but we used to have over 100," she says.
"After those lockdown years it's been really hard to build the numbers again."
The Arthritis Club doesn't only run classes.
It holds several meetings a year, where "interesting speakers" are invited to address the group.
This month it will be Michelle Murphy from Bendigo Foodshare.
Mainly though, it is about the benefits of warm water exercise.
"When you're in the water, you can do more than you can do on dry land, so you can move those joints," Sandra says.
"The idea is we get in the water, warm up and we do gentle exercises.
"There are different types - some are stretching ... and we virtually go from one end of the body to the other.
"We do all the different joints, so it's very beneficial."
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Classes - held both at the Anne Caudle pool at Bendigo Health and the Peter Krenz Leisure Centre at Eaglehawk - are taken by "peer leaders" from within the group who have completed a three-day training course.
"We're sort of under the umbrella of what used to be Arthritis Victoria which is now called MSK Australia," Sandra says.
"That's a group based in Melbourne that is all about getting information out not just about arthritis but all sorts of conditions that involve your muscles and your joints and your bones."
Sandra, who also has fibromyalgia, believes there are a lot of people around the region who would benefit from the classes.
Anyone interested can find out more on the club's website or contact Sandra Dooley on: 0488 773 308.
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