Exercise can help ease joint pain and stiffness for arthritis sufferers. But despite urgings from health officials and plenty of science documenting its benefits, many men and women with osteoarthritis do not engage in any meaningful physical activity in a typical week, according to new research.
The findings directly contradict what many arthritis patients themselves report when asked about their exercise habits. Studies in the past have generally shown that 30 to 40 percent of people with arthritis say they get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week, or about 20 minutes a day, the minimum amount that the federal government recommends for all adults.
But when researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine used special devices to track the activity levels of more than 1,000 people with knee osteoarthritis, they were surprised to find that many were in fact couch potatoes. Only 13 percent of men and 8 percent of women met the federal guidelines for activity.
Exercise is specifically recommended for osteoarthritis patients because it can reduce pain, ease joint stiffness, increase strength and improve mobility, said Dorothy Dunlop, an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern and an author of the study.
“Physical activity is a positive intervention for people with joint disease,” she said. “We certainly applaud the 10 percent of people who met the target, but we also recognize that many adults with arthritis are not meeting the target, and for that group the advice is to be as physically active as possible, even if they accomplish less than the recommended level.”
No comments:
Post a Comment