Research

Oral Contraceptive Use May Lower Risk for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Knee Osteoarthritis Twice as Common as in the past. Glucosamine Supplements Fail to Show Benefit. Even Small Increases in Physical Activity Improve Mobility.

If you have arthritis in the knees and other joints in the lower body, simple movements of daily life can be painful, leading you to do less and less. But this can make matters even worse. Moving joints helps to keep them lubricated, which helps to maintain function, says aquatic expert Christine Schulte, PT, MBA, Director of Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy at Cleveland Clinic.

Total knee replacement surgery is always the last resort. It is an option only after all other measures have failed to provide adequate relief. These include physical therapy, pain medications, corticosteroid injections, bracing and others. The goal of knee replacement surgery is to eliminate the chronic disability from pain. Youre not going to get the knee you had when you were 19, says Nageotte. But you can get pain relief and improved function.

Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis changed dramatically more than 20 years ago with the advent of the disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) methotrexate. Over the past 15 years, new types of DMARDs, called biologics, have continued to revolutionize treatment. Even newer ones are under development.

Low-carbohydrate diets have attracted a lot of attention among people trying to lose weight. This includes people with arthritis who are overweight or obese and suffer added pain in their hips, knees and other joints from carrying excess weight.

A new study backs up earlier research suggesting that regularly eating fish may help reduce joint pain and swelling for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Fish contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to have anti-inflammatory properties. For the study, published in Arthritis Care & Research (June 2017), researchers studied 176 people with rheumatoid arthritis who filled out questionnaires about their diet, including frequency of eating fish.

People with inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, have a higher risk of developing flu-related complications. They have two strikes against them. First, inflammatory arthritis is an autoimmune disease, so the immune system is not functioning properly. Second, inflammatory arthritis is treated with drugs that suppress the immune system.

For years, calcium supplementation was routinely recommended. Then, along came studies showing that taking calcium supplements may increase risk for heart disease. This was followed by other studies that did not show such a link. But this has created concern among people with low bone mass who are often counseled to take calcium supplements.

Do you have pain in your knee? If you havent suffered a sudden injury and are in middle or older age, you may think youre getting osteoarthritis. And you may be right. But there are other possible causes of knee pain. Its important to determine the underlying cause because treatment will differ, says Cleveland Clinic sports medicine physician Carly Day, MD.

A better weight loss plan would take away the craving. Thats the potential of an intermittent fasting diet. Intermittent fasting does not mean completely going without food. This is not a starvation diet, says Kirkpatrick. The idea is to strategically time eating so you cycle through periods of normal eating and ingesting no or minimal calories.

When your back or neck aches, you may reach for pain relieving medications. While they can help, experts suggest trying nondrug treatments first. For both short-term and longstanding low back pain, for example, the recently updated guidelines by the American College of Physicians recommend starting with therapies such as heat, massage, exercise and spinal manipulation.

Women who eat a healthy diet appear to have a lower chance of getting rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (January 2017). People with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis face a higher risk than the general population for bone fractures. After joint replacement surgery, some people are sent from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility for a short stay.