Why Exercise Is Good For Arthritis in the Knees

A persistent belief among arthritis sufferers — and even some doctors — is exercise can increase inflammation and pain, particularly in the knees. But recent research suggests that may be misguided.

只要您以正确的方式行使 - 避免某些确实会加剧您的问题的动作，锻炼就可以改善关节炎症状的福音，更不用说对整体健康和保健有所帮助。

In astudypublished in July 2019 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Scottish researchers looked at 21 previous studies across multiple countries, including the U.S., China, Brazil and Sweden, all related to the impact of therapeutic exercise on knee joint health, with about 2,000 study subjects total. The research participants all had osteoarthritis already or were at high risk of development based on the composition of their knee cartilage.

In terms of exercise programs, those varied greatly, ranging in type of activity, how often exercise was performed, and the length of a study’s timeframe. Some studies were brief, for example, done over the course of four weeks, with exercise done just once a week. But others were longer — up to nearly a year — and with more frequency, like 4–5 times per week. Activities included aquatics, cardio and strength training.

But they were all consistent when it came to which biomarkers the researchers considered, with most relying heavily on cartilage thickness in the knee joint, as well as inflammation overall.

结果？通过运动加载膝关节对参与者无害，实际上，在降低炎症水平以及提高力量和灵活性方面创造了许多好处。

“People with knee osteoarthritis must be reassured that therapeutic exercise prescribed to prevent or treat symptomatic knee osteoarthritis is safe and, if anything, could improve cartilage composition,” says the study’s lead researcher, Alessio Bricca, PhD, of the Institute of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. “Instead of rest and activity avoidance, these people should be encouraged, reassured and supported to engage in physical activity.”

He added that exercise may temporarily cause pain flares when you first start, but those usually fade over time, especially if you’re careful to increase activity gradually, and you’re not doing workouts that stress the joints with arthritis.

One of the biggest reasons exercise can help arthritis is it’sbeen shown减少炎症——通常相当多。和it doesn’t even take long to work. Onestudy发现的炎症只需20分钟的适度运动就可以降低。

但是，您需要确保以正确的方式向关节强调，尤其是专注于增强关节周围的肌肉，以便它们可以更有效地支撑它们。

Activities likeswimming和weight trainingare helpful, suggests Bricca, and even running can be useful if you focus on increasing your distance very gradually over time.Running may even help prevent hip and knee arthritis,研究指出, finding that the arthritis rate of active marathoners was actually below that of the general U.S. population.

您应该避免跳跃，就像做plyometrics, according to Los Angeles-based personal trainer Holly Perkins, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, at least until you gain considerable strength in your legs, and can also be coached on how to land properly.

“Plyometrics are popular because they look fun, with HIIT classes and bootcamp classes,” she says. “But you need to work up to jumping, especially if you have arthritis in your joints. You can dial up the intensity, but take your time to do it.”

避免的另一种策略：只做一项运动。Cross-training is the way to go洛杉矶的雪松 - 西奈·克兰 - 乔布斯研究所的再生体育和联合诊所主任史蒂夫·尤恩博士说，对于关节炎。

Yoon says osteoarthritis can be an overuse injury, which means you’re stressing the joint in the same way, over and over. Doing multiple types of activity — and making sure you’re increasing that exercise — is a great way to address existing arthritis and prevent getting it if you’re at risk.

“When you gain weight and get deconditioned, it can make your arthritis and joint degeneration speed up,” says Yoon. “Start a strength program now, especially if you’re looking for prevention.”