Interrelationship among physical activity, biomechanical and neuromuscular characteristics in knee osteoarthritis development and progression

Healthy muscles, joints and bones are needed to maintain mobility and a physically active lifestyle. Evidence is mounting relating inactivity to health problems like heart disease, some cancers, obesity and diabetes. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is reaching epidemic proportions with 1 in 10 Canadians affected. It results in more difficulty with activities like walking or climbing stairs than any other medical condition for people over 65. OA was typically referred to as a "wear and tear" disease leading to confusion and belief that physical activity makes it worse. While physical activity is recommended for people with OA, this is based on pain relief and improved general health. How diseased cartilage responds to loads is not well understood, and thus we do not know what effect physical activity has on the rate of OA joint changes. Given the benefits of physical activity, we need to understand how to provide people with knee OA appropriate physical activity prescription to reduce symptoms while preventing negative joint changes. OA gets worse quicker in some people than in others, and our previous work shows that joint forces, joint motion and muscle function differ among OA severities. Therefore, our first aim is to confirm these changes in a follow-up study. Then we will see whether these differences in walking and physical activity can predict who will develop knee OA and who will get worse. The results will provide new knowledge that can be used by healthcare professionals and in guiding decisions around physical activity for people with knee OA, as well as in our understanding of different phases of OA. The major driving force is to understand how to prevent degenerative joint changes while achieving benefits that appropriate physical activity can have on improving symptoms (pain and stiffness) and general health of the many Canadians with knee OA.