Might as well walk
HERE’S something to kick around.
People who do about 6 to 9 miles a week of recreational walking don’t appear to be at greater risk for osteoarthritis of the knee than their more sedentary peers, according to a study appearing in the February issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
On the flip side, recreational walking doesn’t appear to confer meaningful protection from osteoarthritis either, as some smaller studies have suggested.
“It’s a case of the glass being half full, half empty,” says lead author Dr. David Felson, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine.
The study evaluated 1,279 people for signs of osteoarthritis of the knee over a nine-year period. The participants, whose average age was 53.2 at the beginning of the study, were the offspring of subjects from the famed 1948 Framingham Heart Study.
Based on the results, researchers concluded that even overweight participants -- who have an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis -- are not more likely to develop the disease as a result of exercise.
The findings should ease concerns among those considering taking up an exercise program. “That’s the walking point,” Felson says.
