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Osteoarthritis – a role for weight management in rheumatology practice: an update
Author(s) -
Bliddal H.,
Christensen P.,
Riecke B. F.,
Aaboe J.,
Frederiksen R.,
Bartels E.,
Christensen R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1758-8111
pISSN - 1758-8103
DOI - 10.1111/j.1758-8111.2010.00008.x
Subject(s) - medicine , osteoarthritis , obesity , weight loss , rheumatology , physical therapy , weight management , population , sports medicine , knee joint , epidemiology , body weight , surgery , alternative medicine , pathology , environmental health
Summary Osteoarthritis (OA) and obesity are related diseases, which occur in a large proportion of the population. Epidemiological evidence show that weight is of great importance for the development of OA in the knee, and to some extent also in hip and finger joints. Once acquired, the OA contributes to further weight problems by decreasing the daily activity level. Weight loss will be beneficial for the knee and experimental data point at a highly significant effect on knee function and recent results even point at a positive effect on the cartilage of the knee joint. Recommending patients with a combination of knee OA and obesity to lose at least 5% body weight, and aim for 10% is predicted to correspond to 26% improvement in physical function. A programme for this weight loss has been tested with good results applying an initial formula diet with maintenance therapy in groups during follow‐up.