Chief Medical Officer Report 2004 - At least five a week - Department of Health

Among people with osteoarthritis, walking has weak, beneficial effects on disability, weak to moderate beneficial effects on pain, and moderate to large effects on patients’ assessment of outcomes. A broad range of physical activities – either individual activities or a combination – reduce pain, stiffness and disability, and increase general mobility, gait, function, aerobic fitness and muscle strength. Three 40-minute walks a week may help to halt the progression of knee osteoarthritis.

Physical activity can help those who have had a joint replacement, but too much physical activity can be detrimental. If knee osteoarthritis leads to joint replacement, then quadriceps strength is often lost and should be addressed after the operation. Exercise during the periods immediately before and after the operation may help people to resume their normal activities more quickly afterwards. People who have had a joint replacement can recover their aerobic fitness: 1 in 2 patients regain the ability to walk up and down hills. Walking activities especially are recovered in the 3-9 months after the operation. Walking increased by up to an average of 23% in a home-based programme when supported by self-management educatio However, too much physical activity following joint replacement can be detrimental: people who regularly take part in sporting activities or heavy manual work after total joint replacement are twice as likely to need revision surgery for loosening in the long term compared with patients who are less active. Physical activity is more likely to provoke hip and knee osteoarthritis in obese people who have had a joint replacement, than in those who are not obese.

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