Osteoarthritis and the effects of exercise
By Dr April Patterson
05/03/2020
Can the symptoms of osteoarthritis be reversed?
Osteoarthritis is commonly seen as a condition from repetetive load and/or age related wear and tear of any joint surface (articular cartilage). Several symptoms include swelling, loss of flexibility, tenderness, pain or a grating sensation within the joint on movement.
Joint cartilage lacks both an individual nerve and blood supply and therefore it does not have a direct nutrition or waste removal service. Load is required to push the water out of the cartilage through mechanical pressure gradients to allow the cells to pull water and nutrients into the cartilage. Without this, the environment becomes toxic resulting cartilage degeneration (Hsu et al. 2019).
Early osteoarthritis is often reversible through increasing joint loading. Joint cartilage needs a substantial amount of load in-order to push water and waste products through the bone to improve cellular environments (Hsu et al. 2019).
As osteoarthritis becomes chronic, muscle weakness results due to pain inhibition. For the lower limb, adequate quadricep, hamstring and gluteal strength are vital for opposing the effects of gravity’s load on the body. Significant reduction in pain are seen with adequate loading in such muscles (Abdel-Aziem 2018).
If any of these symptoms relate to your body, don’t hesitate to contact us here at Physical Edge Healthcare so we can help reduce your pain, increase your function and get you moving better!
References
Abdel-Aziem, A. A., Soliman, E. S., Mosaad, D. M., & Draz, A. H. (2018). Effect of a physiotherapy rehabilitation program on knee osteoarthritis in patients with different pain intensities. Journal of physical therapy science, 30(2), 307–312. doi:10.1589/jpts.30.307
Hsu, H., & Siwiec, R. (2019). Knee Osteoarthritis. Retrieved 21 January 2020, from https://europepmc.org/books/NBK507884;jsessionid=5421425869CBABA37646483F337F76AD
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