As part of a long-term study of the effects of diet and exercise on knee OA, researchers at Wake Forest University found that an average weight loss of 5 percent in overweight and obese older patients brought an 18 percent gain in overall function. Drawing from that study population, the researchers set out to investigate the specific, direct relationship between weight loss and knee-joint stress while walking. Featured in the July 2005 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/arthritis), their findings indicate that moderate weight loss results in knee-joint load reduction of a cumulative amount with considerable clinical implications.
Conducted over an 18-month period, the study focused on 142 overweight and obese adults with radiographic evidence of knee OA. Ranging in age from 60 to 89, the subjects were mostly female (74 percent) and white (75 percent); all were considered sedentary. Each subject's weight and body mass index (BMI), as well as scores on standard scales of function and pain, were obtained at baseline and again at 6-months and at 18-months. At baseline and both follow-up visits, each subject also underwent gait analysis and a battery of biomechanical tests to assess changes in knee-joint forces, both compressive and resultant, and moments, both abduction and rotation. Over the course of the study, all participants followed a prescribed weight loss plan, some through diet only,
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Contact: Amy Molnar
amolnar@wiley.com
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
28-Jun-2005