Being physically active can help prevent disability in those who have or who are at risk of joint conditions. According to a new study, adults with lower-extremity joint symptoms like aching, pain or stiffness who get at least one hour of moderate to vigorous exercise every week are more likely to be free of disability after four years than those who do not meet this exercise goal.
The study, published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, looked at participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a large, multisite study on knee osteoarthritis, who were at increased risk of disability because of lower-extremity symptoms, from 2008 to 2014.
Arthritis is the inflammation of joints, the location where bones come together in the body and can lead to disability. Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis that occurs with aging and excessive use of joints.
"People who start to experience occasional pain, stiffness and weakness may have early osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis impacting more than 30 million Americans," said Cindy McDaniel, senior vice president of consumer health at the nonprofit Arthritis Foundation. As cartilage, the tissue that covers the bone between joints is gradually worn down, the bones can rub against each other and cause pain. Because of this, osteoarthritis is sometimes called degenerative joint disease or "wear and tear" arthritis, McDaniel explained.
Dorothy D. Dunlop, lead author of the study and professor of rheumatology medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, said the researchers "focused on adults with pain, aching or stiffness in lower [hip, knee, ankle, foot] joints because they are at elevated risk for developing disability."Although these patients, ages 49 to 83, had lower-extremity joint problems, they were considered disability-free at the beginning of the study, defined as having a gait, or walking, speed of at least 1 meter per second and not reporting any limitations on their activities of daily living, such as getting dressed or walking across a room. To measure their levels of activity, the patients were monitored with accelerometers.
"After monitoring physical activity, participants were interviewed every other year over four years," Dunlop said. The results showed that people who got at least 56 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week had an 86% decreased the risk of being mobility-disabled compared with those who got less exercise."One hour per week of brisk activity is simple to remember and at the same time is almost as strong a predictor of maintaining basic abilities as the optimal thresholds," Dunlop said. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise for people with arthritis. These guidelines help set expectations, but they are not always followed. Nearly half of American adults exercise less than recommended, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey.
