An Hour a Day Can Keep Arthritis at Bay
People might be surprised to know how big of a difference you can make for your health if you are able to find little ways to stay more active throughout the day. These don't have to be strenuous activities either. Simply walking around during the commercials can do a lot more than you think.
We wanted to share this news because May just happens to be Arthritis Awareness Month! A brand new clinical study has found that staying active just one more hour per day can have a drastic impact on your arthritis symptoms in the long run.
Preventing Disability with Lighter Activities
Professor Dorothy Dunlop is a professor working for Northwestern University and is also renowned for her research with arthritic patients over the years. She says: €It is known that the more time people spend in moderate or vigorous activities, the less likely they are to develop disability.
€But this is the first study to show that spending more time in light activities can help prevent disability too.€
The results of her pivotal research have been published in the British Medical Journal and can offer renewed hope to millions around the country. To put it simply, people whose arthritic symptoms prevent them from performing strenuous exercise can still benefit from just moving around more often.
One extra hour of walking or light chores around the house per day can cut the risk of being disabled by a disease like osteoarthritis (OA) by nearly 30 percent.
What Does It Mean to Be Disabled?
Disability for this arthritis research was defined as limitations when attempting routine daily functions such as:
Getting dressed
Eating
Washing up
Using the restroom
Even walking across the room
These limitations also complicate more demanding tasks such as:
Shopping
Making a phone call
Cooking
Managing finances
Taking medication
€We were delighted to see that more time spent during the day simply moving your body, even at a light intensity, may reduce disability,€ explained Professor Dunlop. €Now people with health problems or physical limitations who cannot increase the intensity of their activity have a starting place in the effort to stay independent.€
€Even among those who did almost no moderate activity, the more light activity they did, the less likely they were to develop disability.€
Their team of researchers examined 1,680 study volunteers between the ages of 49 and 83. All participants were not clinically disabled, but they all either had or were at risk for osteoarthritis in their knees.
Dunlop asked all the volunteers to wear accelerometers on their waists in order to measure their routine activity levels. The study was carried out over the course of two years, and the results showed a clear correlation between those that engaged in moderate or vigorous activity and those who reported less disability.
The surprising find was that getting even light physical activity on a daily basis resulted in fewer disabilities. People who were active for more than four hours a day reduced their arthritis disability risk by 30 percent compared to those active for three hours a day.
Reactions from Leading Health Experts
Health Experts Support News from Arthritis Study on Light ActivityThe University of Toronto's Professor Elizabeth Bradley wrote an editorial on this important discovery. In it, she said: €On the basis of data from Professor Dunlop and colleagues' study, increasing light intensity activity by just over an hour a day might do the trick for people in the most inactive group.
€Among adults who watch a lot of television, for example, this might be achieved by moving around during commercial breaks.
€An underlying message is that every little bit helps.€
Additionally, a representative for Arthritis Research UK was quoted saying: € Keeping joints supple by staying as mobile and active as possible is important because it reduces people's pain, helps them stay independent and can have psychological benefits by improving their self-confidence.
€Many people are afraid to exercise because they believe - mistakenly - that it will cause further damage to their joints.
€But our bodies are designed to move and inactivity is harmful to the tissues in and around the joints.
€So to prolong the life of the joints, people should remain active.
€This new research shows that even something like light housework can help to keep disability at bay, which is good news.€
We wanted to share this news because May just happens to be Arthritis Awareness Month! A brand new clinical study has found that staying active just one more hour per day can have a drastic impact on your arthritis symptoms in the long run.
Preventing Disability with Lighter Activities
Professor Dorothy Dunlop is a professor working for Northwestern University and is also renowned for her research with arthritic patients over the years. She says: €It is known that the more time people spend in moderate or vigorous activities, the less likely they are to develop disability.
€But this is the first study to show that spending more time in light activities can help prevent disability too.€
The results of her pivotal research have been published in the British Medical Journal and can offer renewed hope to millions around the country. To put it simply, people whose arthritic symptoms prevent them from performing strenuous exercise can still benefit from just moving around more often.
One extra hour of walking or light chores around the house per day can cut the risk of being disabled by a disease like osteoarthritis (OA) by nearly 30 percent.
What Does It Mean to Be Disabled?
Disability for this arthritis research was defined as limitations when attempting routine daily functions such as:
Getting dressed
Eating
Washing up
Using the restroom
Even walking across the room
These limitations also complicate more demanding tasks such as:
Shopping
Making a phone call
Cooking
Managing finances
Taking medication
€We were delighted to see that more time spent during the day simply moving your body, even at a light intensity, may reduce disability,€ explained Professor Dunlop. €Now people with health problems or physical limitations who cannot increase the intensity of their activity have a starting place in the effort to stay independent.€
€Even among those who did almost no moderate activity, the more light activity they did, the less likely they were to develop disability.€
Their team of researchers examined 1,680 study volunteers between the ages of 49 and 83. All participants were not clinically disabled, but they all either had or were at risk for osteoarthritis in their knees.
Dunlop asked all the volunteers to wear accelerometers on their waists in order to measure their routine activity levels. The study was carried out over the course of two years, and the results showed a clear correlation between those that engaged in moderate or vigorous activity and those who reported less disability.
The surprising find was that getting even light physical activity on a daily basis resulted in fewer disabilities. People who were active for more than four hours a day reduced their arthritis disability risk by 30 percent compared to those active for three hours a day.
Reactions from Leading Health Experts
Health Experts Support News from Arthritis Study on Light ActivityThe University of Toronto's Professor Elizabeth Bradley wrote an editorial on this important discovery. In it, she said: €On the basis of data from Professor Dunlop and colleagues' study, increasing light intensity activity by just over an hour a day might do the trick for people in the most inactive group.
€Among adults who watch a lot of television, for example, this might be achieved by moving around during commercial breaks.
€An underlying message is that every little bit helps.€
Additionally, a representative for Arthritis Research UK was quoted saying: € Keeping joints supple by staying as mobile and active as possible is important because it reduces people's pain, helps them stay independent and can have psychological benefits by improving their self-confidence.
€Many people are afraid to exercise because they believe - mistakenly - that it will cause further damage to their joints.
€But our bodies are designed to move and inactivity is harmful to the tissues in and around the joints.
€So to prolong the life of the joints, people should remain active.
€This new research shows that even something like light housework can help to keep disability at bay, which is good news.€
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