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Exercise Improves Lives of People with Arthritis, Study Suggests

arthritisThe pain, swelling and stiffness that comes with osteoarthritis in the knee makes many people want to give up the very thing that could make them feel better: exercise.

In fact, many people with arthritis could enjoy their lives a bit more and reduce their health care expenses if they met the national guideline for exercise: 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each week, according to a news release from the American College of Rheumatology.

“Regular physical activity improves health and reduces mortality in the general population,” said study author Dr. Kai Sun in the news release. “Furthermore, physical activity promotes arthritis-specific health benefits including improving symptoms, function and psychosocial outcomes, as well as reduced disability.”

Despite the many health benefits of exercise, the majority of adults in the U.S. do not attain the recommended amounts of physical activity, Sun noted.

“The costs associated with the treatment of inactivity-related diseases and injuries, lost productivity and diminished quality of life poses an economic burden,” Sun said. “Therefore, promoting physical activity is an important component in promoting overall health, addressing the epidemic of obesity and other chronic illnesses, and reducing health care costs in the long term.”

Osteoarthritis leads to progressive damage to cartilage, causing pain, swelling and limited mobility around the joint. Factors that increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis include being overweight, age, injury or stress to the joints, and family history, according to the news release.

The preliminary findings, scheduled to be presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, are based on the physical activity levels and the quality of life years of 4,700 adults who have arthritis of the knee or are at-risk for the condition. The researchers wanted to determine if increased physical activity in osteoarthritis patients would correlate to better Quality-Adjusted Life Years, or QALYs. QALYs are a measure of health outcomes based on both quality of life and survival duration a particular medical intervention would add to the patient’s life. Cost effectiveness for any treatment can then be determined by the cost needed to improve QALYs by one, the release states.

“Because physical activity conveys many health benefits, the Department of Health and Human Services published physical activity guidelines in 2008 for all Americans including those with osteoarthritis,” Sun said. “The guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week performed in bouts lasting at least 10 minutes. The objective of our study was to investigate if meeting the 2008 DHHS physical activity guidelines translated into better QALYs among adults with or at risk for knee OA, and to postulate whether interventions to increase physical activity could be cost effective.”

The researchers found a significant graded relationship between higher levels of physical activity and QALYs. Over the course of two years, those who met physical activity guidelines had QALYs that were 0.11 higher than those who were inactive, and even those who were insufficiently active had QALYs that were 0.058 higher than those who were inactive after adjusting for socioeconomic and health factors, according to the news release.

These numbers represent about 10 to 20 additional days of perfect health over a year. Interventions to encourage adults to increase their physical activity level even if guidelines are not fully met could potentially translate to better quality of life, added years of healthy life, and thereby lower overall health care costs, the study’s authors concluded.

 + Source: American College of Rheumatology

+ Find out how to improve your mobility and strength with the Arthritis Rehabilitation physical therapy program at Bon Secours In Motion.