Will Exercise make my OA worse?

As physiotherapists, we frequently get asked  if exercising is safe after a daignosis of knee OA. Despite people being more aware how exercising is the magic pill to many diseases, we seem to continue to believe that once we have been diagnosed with knee OA, we should reduce and in most cases, stop how much exercise we are doing.

Well, I am here to prove otherwise! A recent study by Bricca et. al. (2019), reviewed almost 2000 patients with knee OA in two different studies. Participants were doing a range of supervised exercises ranging from hydrotherapy to jumping. In the first study, they concluded by MRI that there was no further damage to the cartilage of the joint post exercise. In the second study, they found out that there was no inflammation in the joint following exercise.

What does this mean? Exercise will not increase the amount of cartilage damage or increase the inflammation of your joints, so keep exercising!

Marga Ruiz

Physiotherapist/ APPI Certified Instructor