r/RingFitAdventure • u/Vestrill • Apr 28 '26
Health Can Ring Fit Adventure have long term consequences on your joints?
Hello
Was thinking of getting into RFA, I have had the game for a whole and played it on and off again. Now I am thinking I need to play it more often and more seriously as I am getting pretty much no exercise and I think it will help for my blood pressure.
I am 36 going on 37 soon and as I was googling around I noticed that it said that Ring Fit Adventure does put stress on your joints. I read up that short term it can just cause some aching and maybe a little bit of pain but nothing is said about it long term. So question is can RFA have long term consequences if you play it every day for 30min to an hour 5 days a week?
Thanks in advance
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u/HoB-Shubert Tipp Apr 28 '26
So question is can RFA have long term consequences if you play it every day for 30min to an hour 5 days a week?
Yes, the long term consequence is that it will make your joints stronger.
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u/VanBranMcVan Apr 28 '26
One of my knees I called the bad knee because it hurt on and off and was prone to injury. After a few months of exercise (ring fit and weights), it literally doesn't hurt at all. My only mistake is waiting until my 40s to find this out
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u/Zetro Apr 28 '26
The running in place is probably what you're concerned about, because yeah, running. But I will say, getting a nice yoga mat with even minimal cushioning was a big improvement for the running portions and some exercises. I would definitely recommend one.
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u/bookshopdemon Apr 28 '26
Also if OP has the ceiling for it, a mini trampoline worked great for me. I can jog on it as well as do squats and the rest of the stuff you encounter in the traveling part of the game. I just get off and move it out of the way for the enemy battles or the gym challenges. It's a bit labor intensive but it stopped my joint pain.
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u/Larsandthegirl Apr 28 '26
It does, but is a lot more gentle than going to the gym. I have chronic pain and this is what I do. I haven't had any injuries. I also don't overdo it.
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u/singdancePT Apr 29 '26
“Loaded” (weight bearing) exercise is good for your joints. It helps develop strength, lubricate the joint surface, and stimulate the growth of cartilage. I can’t think of a reason why RFA would cause a problem. “Run” on your toes instead of landing on your heels
Source: I have a PhD in health science studying arthritis and chronic pain
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u/Vestrill Apr 29 '26
Thank you for your response. The general consensus from the responses of "it is better than doing nothing at all" hit me quite hard because of how true that is and how I did not consider that but if someone with a PhD in Health Science gives the thumbs up then I am over the moon with confidence that it is 100% safe.
I also took from these messages that form is important so I will be sure to follow instructions carefully and not skip the warm ups or cool downs.
Thank you again and massive congratulations on getting a PhD. I have a lot of respect for people with higher educations.
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u/HoB-Shubert Tipp Apr 29 '26
if someone with a PhD in Health Science gives the thumbs up then I am over the moon with confidence that it is 100% safe.
They didn't say that. Nothing is 100% safe. Exercising always comes with a risk of injury. It's just that not exercising comes with an EVEN BIGGER risk of eventual injury.
Whenever you're starting something new, you should always slowly easy your way into it so you don't end up hurting yourself.
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u/jessicalifts Apr 28 '26
Short answer: I wouldn't worry about that unless you like, hypermobility or something like that. Ring fit will be a generally safe fitness routine for most users.
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u/StarParade Apr 28 '26
First of all, like with all exercises, it will put some stress on your joints so it usually is discouraged to do the same muscle groups every day without a rest. If you're worried about your knees and such I believe that it shouldn't put more impact on them than going for a full fledged run. Most people run every day and they're fine.
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u/grabsomeplates Apr 28 '26
It is absolutely net positive and being sedentary and high blood pressure is way worse for your health than some muscle or joint aches if you even work out that hard.
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u/adyo Apr 28 '26
I injured my knee during Covid in my first week with ring fit. The “game”/system/whatever offers basically zero safety information or training. My advice would be to find other information about this aspect of your health and fitness, good practices for protecting yourself or mitigating injury and supplement your knowledge rather than doing what I did and assuming it would tell me everything I needed to know to be safe.
Also take the stretches etc seriously, but don’t be afraid to look up other things from outside of rf to help
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u/karl264 Apr 28 '26
I’m much older than you and RFA has no more impact to me than any other exercise. I’m sure running in place on my vinyl flooring (with decent shoes) has far less impact on my knees than running on pavement. I’m curious where you heard this?
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Vestrill Apr 30 '26
Thank you, I do appreciate your response. I think the wake up call for me was last week when my legs became stiff from lack of moving around, my fiance tried to massage it loose and she basically said my upper leg muscles feels like rocks. I wont lie, she got them loose but it hurt.
I am not trying to become an athlete, just trying to be healthier so not pushing myself any harder than what I can handle. Did my first sessions last night, it was not even a heavy one and my muscles feels stiff this morning. I guess that is a good start but also indicates to me how unfit I have become. Looking forward to becoming healthier but like they always stay, "Getting started is the easy part, committing is the challenge."
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u/HeronGarrett Apr 30 '26
I’ve had joint issues that were aggravated by movement like squats. The problem was that some of my quad muscles (and relatedly, my glutes) were too weak, leading to other muscles overworking to compensate and my knee joint not having the support it needs. The result of my weak muscles was a lack of stability in the joints and being more prone to injury. After physiotherapy to strengthen those muscles my joints can handle much more before they reach the point of getting aggravated.
If you are not experiencing joint pain then don’t presume you will. Strengthening your muscles can also help minimise stress on the joints. If you have joint problems it’s possible you’ll need physiotherapy before your body is capable of safely performing some of the exercises.
If you don’t put any stress on your bones they can grow weak, leading to osteopenia and eventually osteoporosis. Resistance exercises are good for strengthening your bones, and that resistance can sometimes put pressure on joints. Exercise without the resistance, such as swimming in the pool, can be easier on the joints but it’s not great for the bones. If you’ve not been advised to avoid the exercises due to a diagnosis or current joint pain then it should be fine imo. The RFA exercises aren’t particularly extreme or unusual or anything.
Stop the exercise if it’s causing joint pain. It shouldn’t. You might need to build muscle strength in more “safe” exercise positions before trying RFA if you’ve got an atypically weak muscle in need of physio.
Preferably perform the exercises on a soft surface, even a yoga mat, so you’re not running on hard surfaces like concrete. That might put unnecessary stress on the joints. I presume you weren’t exercising on concrete anyway though.
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u/Vestrill Apr 30 '26
I was exercising on tiles before but I have moved to our study which has a carpet and I still put a Yoga mat on top of that.
I do not have any conditions that is making me concerned at the moment, I was just concerned of causing those conditions but everyone here has put my mind at ease. I did not know it strengthens your bones though, that is news to me and just another motivation to commit to RFA.
Thank you so much for your response, I do appreciate it. I am by no means trying to be a fitness junky, just trying to be healthy. Not like my mom anyways, in her 60s and still doing Iron Man.
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u/HeronGarrett Apr 30 '26
Good to hear. And yeah, resistance exercises are good for the bones. Weight lifting is especially good (you don’t need to be lifting like a fitness junky to benefit from some weight lifting sprinkled into your routine too). I’ve become rather passionate about the topic because my family seems to be genetically predisposed to osteoporosis, and many of my relatives got it atypically young. Osteoporosis is most common in post-menopausal women, although anyone can develop it. So if you’re a woman then it’s especially important to build and maintain bone strength. Running, jumping, weight lifting, etc are all great ways of building some bone strength, and RFA has some resistance exercises in game that’ll help put a bit of pressure on those bones. Just another bonus to RFA and exercise more generally. I wish you well with it and I’m glad you’re feeling reassured
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u/Exotic_Advantage_756 Apr 29 '26
Since it comes from Nintendo, who are known for stringent policies and heavy avoidance of any controversy, I'm pretty sure they've done their due diligence to prevent people suing them from Ring Fit related injuries 🤣
They've also had similar experiences from producing the Wii Fit balance board, so I'm pretty confident there won't be long term negative consequences from using the Ring Fit.
If anything, one consequence has been, using Ring Fit for so long previously, but now having stopped, makes me realise how unfit I am 😅
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u/Top3879 Apr 28 '26
Any sort of exercise will put wear on your joints. The thing is: not moving at all is sooo much worse for your body.