A recent mathematical modeling analysis undertaken in the USA revealed that a small increase in physical activity among patients with knee osteoarthritis substantially improved their quality of life and prevented thousands of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes cases.
It's seems like common knowledge that physical activity is 'good for you'. While an obvious bad habit like smoking is well known to be detrimental to your health, a basic lack of physical activity is increasingly being shown to cause all sorts of health problems that are not just related to an expanding waistline.
Elena Losina, PhD, Robert W. Lovett Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of Policy and Innovation eValuations in Orthopedic Treatments (PIVOT) Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said these new findings underscore the importance of developing public health campaigns to promote physical activity.
“Based on all the evidence we have, the regimen that has consistently shown to be efficacious for knee OA is physical activity and exercise,” she told Healio. “Despite this evidence, there is still a great number of people with knee OA who are not physically active.”
Of the 11.7 million people in the United States aged 45 to 85 years with knee OA, approximately 11% are physically active, 41% are insufficiently active and 47% are inactive, according to Losina.
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