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What Roles do Diet and Exercise Play in Osteoarthritis Treatment?

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Jeffrey Rosen, MD Orthopaedic Surgeon New York University Medical Center Stanley Dysart, MD Orthopaedic Surgeon

SD: Diet and exercise play a critical role in the treatment of osteoarthritis. As you are aware, 60% of adults in this country are overweight and 30% are obese and those numbers continue to rise and we know that obesity is a risk factor for osteoarthritis. And we know the heavy patients often have more pain. So you take a patient who is overweight, you get them to lose weight, you get them on exercise protocol and many have less pain and many do much better when you combine that with other treatment modalities. They also know that quadriceps weakness or weakness of the leg and knee muscles are associated with osteoarthritis, its seems that weakness may precede osteoarthritis. So exercise, the proper diet and weight reduction if you are overweight are all critical aspects in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

JR: You should think of the muscles around the joint as shock absorbers in a car. The stronger and healthier they are, the more they help to protect the inside of the joint in everyday forces of walking around and getting up and down stairs and hills. It is also important that flexibility training be performed in order to prevent the stiffness that comes in association with the osteoarthritis disease process.

SD: - there are patients I see that are overweight and they have arthritis and that subset you definitely want to have them exercise but the right exercise is very important. You don't have them run. You don't have them jog, and you don't have them do things that heavily impact the joints and that seems to make sense. But I get many patients that want to run. So I do exercises that are low stress to the joints but enable them to exercise, like walking, like stair master, like elliptical, these type of exercises do not heavily stress the joints but you get what you need to increase the burning of the calories.

JR: Many times we have to deal with patients who seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place because in order to exercise they need to use joints that are painful when they use them. Its very important to consult a doctor who may refer them to a physical therapy specialist to help get them going and get them moving. If a patient is at the point where they cannot engage in a regular physical therapy or exercise program because their joints are so painful then they may need to seek further intervention.

 

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