(Reuters Health)—Obese people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) may find greater symptom relief when they lose larger amounts of weight, a recent study suggests.
Researchers examined data on 240 obese adults with pain from knee OA who were participating in an 18-month experiment to see how diet alone or diet plus exercise affected their health.
Participants who lost 10% or more of their baseline body weight by the end of the study experienced a 50% reduction in pain and also reported significant improvements in mobility and daily function.
But more weight loss was even better. People who lost at least 20% of their baseline weight experienced 25% less pain and better daily function than patients who lost no more than 10% of their weight, the authors report June 18 online in Arthritis Care & Research.1