Results of a new study
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggest that
exercise may help to prevent disability in older adults
with knee osteoarthritis.
Disability in activities of daily living (ADL),
which affects about 20% of older adults, refers to difficulty
performing essential daily activities, including bathing, dressing,
using the toilet, eating, and transferring positions.
Osteoarthritis is
characterized by breakdown of joint cartilage and affects roughly
20.7 million Americans, age 45 and older.
Researchers assigned
250 older adults with knee osteoarthritis to an 18-month aerobic
exercise program (vigorous walking), muscle resistance training, or
attention control sessions (in which participants learned about
arthritis management). Information on disability was collected every
three months via a 30-item questionnaire and scored according to the
level of difficulty with various tasks.
Participants assigned
to aerobic or resistance exercise developed significantly less
disability than those attending attention control sessions.
Similarly, the exercise groups had less than half the risk of
developing an ADL disability than their attention control peers. In
both programs, individuals who complied the most with their exercise
prescription experienced the greatest benefit.
Exercise has been
shown to improve muscle strength, bone mass, and flexibility and
increase aerobic capacity. In patients with osteoarthritis, it may
also reduce pain. The results of this study show that physical
activity may be an effective way to prevent future disability in
older adults with osteoarthritis, thereby improving quality of life.
