Arthritis and exercise: Knees aren’t affected by how much physical activity you do

Earlier analysis has discovered conflicting outcomes on a hyperlink between train and knee arthritis, however now evidently the quantity of bodily exercise you do has no influence – although extra strenuous exercises may

By Clare Wilson

There appears to be no hyperlink between the quantity of train individuals do and whether or not they develop painful osteoarthritis of their knees, in response to a big examine of exercise ranges and arthritis ache. However the analysis couldn’t rule out that high-impact types of train like operating carry on the situation.

Osteoarthritis is extra frequent as individuals grow old and is typically known as a “put on and tear” situation. Arthritic knees typically have seen harm to their cartilage, a rubbery layer that covers the ends of bones.

Earlier research have discovered conflicting outcomes on whether or not train could make arthritis extra probably. So Lucy Gates on the College of Southampton within the UK and her colleagues mixed the outcomes of six such investigations, involving over 5000 individuals who initially had no knee ache or different proof of arthritis.

On the outset, individuals had been requested about how a lot train they did, together with enjoying sports activities, strolling and biking. They recorded the typical time spent exercising every week, and their actions had been graded by their metabolic equal, or MET, scores, a typical approach of classifying actions in response to how a lot they elevate an individual’s metabolic fee.

On the finish of the research, which lasted from 5 to 12 years, individuals had been additionally requested if they’d developed frequent knee ache or if arthritis had been identified by a scan.

The probability of growing arthritis didn’t correlate with exercise ranges, both by how a lot time individuals spent exercising every week or by their mixed time and MET scores.

“There’s extra work to be performed on disaggregating danger and various kinds of exercise,” says Gates. “The following step is to determine how completely different weight-bearing [activities] may change issues.”

“We’re not on the stage to say there’s no relationship there,” says workforce member Thomas Perry on the College of Oxford.

Journal reference: Arthritis & Rheumatology, DOI: 10.1002/artwork.42001

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