Knee pain from arthritic condition eased by weight loss

Knee pain related to osteoarthritis (OA) is a common complaint among obese individuals and retired professional athletes, especially former NFL players, but researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Specialty Day program said they have a simple solution: lose weight.

“Our research on patients who were obese with early-onset knee osteoarthritis showed that those individuals who underwent isolated weight loss via bariatric surgery and lost an average of 57 pounds within the first six months significantly improved their knee pain, stiffness and physical function.

“Quality of life, activities of daily living and sports activity also improved; all of this without other arthritic treatments,” said lead researcher, Dr Christopher Edwards, of the Penn State College of Medicine.

The study followed 24 adult patients who ranged in age from 30-67 and were diagnosed as obese with clinical and radiographic evidence of knee OA. The Western Ontario and McMaster (WOMAC) Index of Osteoarthritis and Knee and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) surveys were administered at a pre-bariatric surgery baseline and at six and 12 months post surgery.

“Each individual had some kind of improvement in their pain from losing weight, some more than others. There are few studies that have investigated the role of isolated weight loss in the absence of additional arthritis treatment on those individuals with radiographically confirmed OA.

“Further research still needs to be performed to investigate whether knee arthritis symptom improvement continues over time and are applicable to those individuals who are simply overweight, but our research suggests a strong possibility of improvement,” said Dr Edwards.

Exercise improves physical function, reduces pain for OA patients
Patients with OA of the knee or hip who adhere to the recommended home physical therapy exercises and physically active lifestyle experience more improvement in pain, physical function, and self-perceived effect according to a study from researchers in The Netherlands.

Research also shows that maintenance of exercise behavior and physically active lifestyle after discharge of physical therapy improves the long-term effectiveness of exercise therapy in patients with knee or hip OA.

Details of the study were published in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.