Key takeaways

• You can stay active with HS. Walking, swimming, gentle strength training, yoga, and other low-impact activities may be more comfortable, depending on where your symptoms occur.

• Friction, heat, sweat, and pressure can aggravate HS-prone skin. Choosing comfortable clothing, exercising in cooler environments, and adjusting movements can help reduce irritation.

• Adapt workouts to your symptoms. Cycling may be uncomfortable with groin or buttock lesions, while certain upper-body movements may irritate HS affecting the underarms.

• Exercise supports overall health but is not a treatment for HS itself. Regular activity benefits cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health, even though evidence that exercise directly improves HS symptoms remains limited.

• Recurring flares shouldn't prevent you from getting the care you need. A dermatologist experienced in HS can help manage inflammation and develop a treatment plan that supports your ability to stay active.

Living with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) can make exercise challenging, particularly when painful lumps, drainage, or friction interfere with movement.

But having HS doesn't mean you need to stop exercising. Many people can continue enjoying physical activity by choosing movements that feel comfortable and making adjustments during flare-ups.

The key is understanding how different activities affect your skin. Heat, sweat, friction, and pressure can aggravate symptoms, particularly in areas where HS commonly develops, such as the underarms, groin, inner thighs, buttocks, and beneath the breasts.

Here's how to choose workouts that work for you, reduce irritation during exercise, and recognize when HS symptoms may need additional treatment.

How Exercise Can Affect HS Symptoms

HS is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that causes painful lumps. According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), it tends to develop where skin rubs together. Common areas include the underarms, groin, inner thighs, buttocks, and under the breasts.

During exercise, four things load those areas: heat, sweat, friction, and pressure. As AAD's HS self-care guidance explains, sweating and overheating can cause a flare-up. The same guidance notes that clothing rubbing on a painful lump can make HS worse.

A useful way to judge any workout is to weigh how much heat, sweat, friction, and pressure it puts on your affected areas. The lower that load, the easier the workout tends to be on your skin.

Best Exercises to Consider With HS

In published exercise recommendations for HS patients, dermatology and rehabilitation clinicians recommend lower-friction options such as walking, water exercise, stationary biking, resistance bands, and yoga. They also advise people with HS to "start low and go slow."

These are expert recommendations rather than clinical trial results, so pay attention to how your own skin responds. Talk with your dermatologist before you start or step up a new routine.

Walking

Walking is easy to scale and easy to stop if your skin starts to feel irritated. Indoor tracks and treadmills let you stay cool on warm days.

Inner-thigh rubbing tends to increase with distance and pace. Start with shorter, cooler walks and build from there.

Swimming and water exercise

Water helps limit overheating and sweat build-up while you move. The same clinicians suggest breaststroke because it involves minimal skin-on-skin contact.

Avoid shared pools while lesions are draining. Afterward, shower and dry your skin folds fully. Water aerobics is another option if swimming laps feels like too much.

Stationary cycling

A stationary bike is low impact, and riding indoors makes temperature easy to control. The saddle puts pressure on the groin and buttocks, so cycling may suit underarm HS better than lower-body HS.

If you want to ride with lower-body HS, ask your dermatologist about seat and clothing setup.

Strength training with bands, machines, or body weight

Strength training uses short sets with rest between them. That pattern tends to build less sustained heat than a long cardio session.

Machines and resistance bands let you control range of motion, so you can stop short of a painful stretch. Choose moves that keep pressure off active areas. Body-weight exercises also work well at home.

Yoga, Pilates, and tai chi

Slow movement and controlled breathing keep heat low. Gentle mobility work can help when scarring limits how far a joint moves.

Skip or modify poses that compress or stretch active areas. Deep hip openers, for example, may be harder when the groin is flaring.

Can You Run or Do High-Intensity Workouts With HS?

Yes, some people with HS can comfortably participate in running, dancing, rowing, and higher-intensity exercise.

However, these activities may involve more sweating, friction, or repeated movement, which can worsen symptoms for some patients.

If you enjoy more vigorous workouts, consider:

• Exercising in a cool, well-ventilated environment

• Starting with shorter sessions and gradually increasing intensity

• Taking breaks to cool down when needed

• Wearing breathable clothing that reduces friction

• Changing out of damp clothing after exercise

• Adjusting your routine during active flare-ups

You may also find it helpful to track whether certain workouts are consistently followed by irritation or worsening symptoms.

A symptom diary can provide useful information to discuss with your dermatologist, although a flare after exercise does not necessarily mean the activity caused it.

How to Choose Workouts Based on Where You Have HS

The same workout can be easy for one person and hard for another, depending on where HS appears.

Use the location of your active areas to decide what to train each day.

Underarms

When HS affects the underarms, movements involving repeated arm swinging, overhead reaching, or stretching may cause discomfort.

Exercises such as overhead presses, pull-ups, and certain rowing movements may be harder to tolerate during a flare.

You may prefer walking, stationary cycling, or lower-body strength training until symptoms improve.

Groin, buttocks, and inner thighs

Cycling saddles, rowing seats, deep squats, and lunges add pressure and friction to the groin, buttocks, and inner thighs. Upper-body work, swimming, and machine-based moves with a shorter range of motion can be easier.

Our guide to HS in the groin and buttocks explains what recurring lumps in these areas can mean.

Under the breasts or chest

The clinicians behind the exercise recommendations suggest supportive wireless sports bras or camisole tanks with built-in support. Both reduce rubbing under the breasts. Breathable layers on top help limit trapped heat.

Clothing, timing, and aftercare that lower flare risk

These steps draw on AAD self-care advice and the clinician recommendations above. Together they limit how long heat, moisture, and rubbing stay on your skin.

• Wear loose, breathable or moisture-wicking fabric with flat seams.

• Ask your dermatologist before wearing tight athletic clothing or leggings.

• Apply anti-chafe balm to friction points before you start.

• Exercise in cool spaces, or in the morning or late afternoon in warm weather.

• Shower and change into dry clothes soon after your workout.

• Pat your skin dry with a clean towel instead of scrubbing.

• Choose an antiperspirant without alcohol, baking soda, parabens, dyes, or fragrance.

• Never wax, and shave carefully if you shave affected areas.

Exercising during a flare

An HS flare doesn't always mean you need to stop exercising completely.

Depending on your symptoms, you may be able to continue with gentler activities or movements that avoid affected areas.

For example, you might substitute walking for running, switch from cycling to upper-body exercises, or take a rest day when pain is more severe.

The goal is to stay active when possible without worsening pain or interfering with healing.

During a flare:

• Reduce workout intensity or duration as needed.

• Avoid movements that put pressure on painful lesions.

• Follow your dermatologist's instructions for wound care.

• Consider rest or gentle movement when symptoms are particularly uncomfortable.

• Resume more demanding activities gradually as symptoms improve.

Contact your dermatologist if lesions repeatedly reopen, fail to heal, or interfere significantly with daily movement.

Seek prompt medical attention for fever, spreading redness, or rapidly worsening pain or swelling, which may indicate an infection requiring urgent evaluation.

Why Exercise Matters for People With HS

Regular activity supports heart, metabolic, and mental health. That matters because of the conditions that often accompany HS, such as diabetes, heart disease, and depression.

Exercise has not been shown to treat HS itself. Its value lies in supporting the rest of your health.

Heart and metabolic health

The CDC's adult activity guidelines say adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, plus 2 days of muscle-strengthening activity. That is a general target, and any amount counts toward it.

The AAD and the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation released their first joint HS guidelines of care in October 2026. The guidelines found insufficient evidence to support weight reduction as an HS treatment. They also note that a heart-healthy diet remains important for heart and diabetes risk.

A 2023 systematic review of exercise and diet looked at 15 studies involving 2,829 patients. It found no significant evidence that any type of exercise improves HS symptoms and called for randomized trials. Your dermatologist's treatment plan is the main way to control HS, and activity supports your health at any size.

Mood and mental health

Depression and anxiety are common with HS, and a meta-analysis of depression in HS pooling 10 studies with 40,307 people estimated depression prevalence at 16.9%, about 1 in 6. Estimates varied widely between studies.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans state that regular physical activity reduces anxiety symptoms in adults. The same guidelines say it can improve many of the symptoms people with depression experience.

Home workouts can help when privacy matters, such as when lesions are draining or dressed. Mood is part of HS care, so raise it with your dermatologist or care team.

In one patient's experience with HS, Tono patient Jovette Simmons urges others not to ignore their mental health.

When HS is limiting how you move

If flares keep interrupting your training, HS may need stronger control, and activity tips alone may not be enough. The AAD lists taking part comfortably in everyday activities, such as walking and exercise, among the goals of HS treatment.

These signals suggest it is time to see a dermatologist who treats HS:

• Recurring lumps in skin folds that have never been diagnosed.

• Flares that follow most workouts within a few days.

• Scarring that limits how you move.

• Wounds that do not heal or keep reopening.

If your lumps have not been diagnosed, our guide to boils that keep coming back explains what they can mean and who to see.

At Tono's HS Center of Excellence, specialists treat every stage of HS, from topical treatments to biologics. Biologics are injected medicines that target specific parts of the immune system. Care is longitudinal, meaning your specialist follows you over time, with in-person exams, labs, and procedures coordinated when needed.

Appointments are available in 2 days or less, no referral is needed, and most insurance is accepted. Every visit is led by a specialist. Because visits happen from home, a specialist can see you during a flare.

Our specialists explain why virtual-first HS care works for a condition that flares on its own schedule. Tono has cared for more than 20,000 patients across a 33-state clinical footprint.

Frequently asked questions

Should I apply antiperspirant before a workout?

You can use antiperspirant if your skin tolerates it. Consider a gentle, fragrance-free, alcohol-free formula, and avoid applying it directly to open or draining lesions. Ask your dermatologist for recommendations if products regularly cause irritation.

Are home workouts better than the gym for HS?

Not necessarily. Home workouts offer flexibility, privacy, and greater control over your environment. Gyms may provide equipment, temperature-controlled spaces, and exercise options that are harder to replicate at home. Choose whichever setting is most comfortable and practical for you.

How soon after a workout should I shower?

Shower and change into clean, dry clothing as soon as reasonably possible after your workout. This can help reduce prolonged exposure to sweat and moisture, particularly in areas prone to friction.

Is it okay to use a sauna or hot tub after a workout?

Heat and excessive sweating may worsen symptoms for some people with HS. If you notice that saunas or hot tubs trigger discomfort or flare-ups, consider avoiding them. Avoid hot tubs when you have open or draining lesions, and discuss any concerns with your dermatologist.

Is dancing a good workout for HS?

Dancing can be an enjoyable way to stay active. Lower-intensity styles may be easier to tolerate, while faster movements can increase sweating and friction. Adjust your intensity and clothing based on your symptoms and comfort.

Staying active with HS is easiest when the disease itself is well controlled. Schedule an in-person or virtual appointment with a Tono Health specialist. To get started, find an HS specialist.