MONDAY, Oct. 22, 2018 (HealthDay News) — For individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA), replacing time not walking with walking at moderate-to-vigorous intensity is associated with reduced risk for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) over five years, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, held from Oct. 19 to 24 in Chicago.
Hiral Master, P.T., M.P.H., from the University of Delaware in Newark, and colleagues used data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative to examine the extent to which walking intensity correlates with the risk for TKA among adults with or at high risk for knee OA. They assessed the effect of replacing time not walking with walking at very-light, light, or moderate-to-vigorous intensities on the risk for TKA over five years.
The researchers found that 6 percent of the 1,854 participants without TKA at baseline who wore the accelerometer for at least four days received a TKA over five years. There was a 16 percent reduction in the risk for TKA when replacing five minutes of non-walking time with five minutes of walking at moderate-to-vigorous intensity. No effect was seen for very light- and light-intensity walking. Similar results were seen in samples with radiographic OA and symptomatic OA.
“Clinicians should consider encouraging their patients with or at high risk of knee OA to go for a brisk walk for five to 10 continuous minutes each and every day,” Master said in a statement.
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