Exercise Good for Those at Risk for Osteoarthritis

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Moderate regular exercise may strengthen knee cartilage in people at high risk of developing knee osteoarthritis -- the leading cause of disability in adults, Swedish researchers report.

"Exercise may have important implications for disease prevention in patients at risk of developing knee osteoarthritis," the authors conclude.

The new findings challenge the belief that because osteoarthritis is a "wear and tear disease", exercise will not strengthen joint cartilage and may actually have a harmful effect. Contrary to that notion, however, findings from animal studies have suggested that exercise may actually protect against cartilage breakdown.

In the present study, investigators assessed cartilage outcomes in 45 patients with early joint disease who were randomized to a moderate exercise group or to a control group.

The exercise intervention included supervised training sessions performed three times per week for four months. The goal was to improve muscle strength, aerobic capacity, and neuromuscular control. Baseline and follow-up imaging studies were performed on 30 of the subjects.

The exercise intervention was associated with a significant improvement in knee cartilage. In addition, moderate exercise seemed to improve joint symptoms and function, Dr. Leif Dahlberg, from Malmo University, and Dr. Ewa M. Roos, from Lund University report in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

"This study shows compositional changes in adult joint cartilage as a result of increased exercise, which confirms the observations made in prior animal studies but has not been previously shown in humans," Dahlberg said in a statement.

SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism November 2005.