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 it appears that evidently the quantity of bodily exercise you do has no impression – 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 line with a big examine of exercise ranges and arthritis ache. However the analysis couldn’t rule out that high-impact types of train like working carry on the situation.

Osteoarthritis is extra frequent as individuals grow old and is usually known as a “put on and tear” situation. Arthritic knees usually have seen injury 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 have been requested about how a lot train they did, together with taking part in sports activities, strolling and biking. They recorded the typical time spent exercising every week, and their actions have been graded by their metabolic equal, or MET, scores, an ordinary means of classifying actions in line with how a lot they increase an individual’s metabolic price.

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

The chance 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 accomplished on disaggregating threat and several types of exercise,” says Gates. “The subsequent 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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