Living with osteoarthritis

Exercise is very important for you to avoid losing muscle mass around your joints. Thus, physical activity can help you maintain your muscles during weight loss and thus relieve your joints. 

Doing certain movements can relieve your pain and, in some cases, limit the progression of joint damage. You should, nonetheless, consult your doctor to determine the type of exercises you need to do. Indeed, some movements are more beneficial than others.
Studies have thus proved that a decrease in muscle strength of the thigh muscle (quadriceps) precedes the onset of osteoarthritis of the knee (gonarthrosis), and is therefore not a consequence of it. 

"Exercising" is therefore essential in osteoarthritis, provided that the exercise is suited to your condition and your abilities. The beneficial effects on joints affected by osteoarthritis are:

• the joints keep their flexibility; 
• muscle strength is maintained or even increased; 
• joint stability is ensured; 
• endurance in everyday activities is improved.

You must therefore keep up a regular exercise routine while avoiding overworking your joints. 
Walking at your own pace for at least 1 hour, 3 times a week, provides this joint maintenance and can significantly reduce pain.

In case of pain, do not, however, continue the activity as if nothing has happened: this may aggravate cartilage damage.
In case of a flare-up of osteoarthritis, it is best to restrict your physical activity.
So maintain your activities as much as possible while respecting your pain if it occurs.

We have already seen that pain is a symptom suggestive of a flare-up of osteoarthritis and thus a possible worsening of the osteoarthritic lesions of your joints. However, the difficulty lies in the subjective sense of pain. 

So you can help your doctor by quantifying your own pain on a daily basis by attributing a score to it between 0 (no pain) to 10 (extreme pain) and telling him or her during your consultation. 

[  Pain Scale ]

It is very important to recognise a flare-up of osteoarthritis as soon as possible because it is often accompanied by phenomena of joint destruction. Thus, to monitor your osteoarthritis, you must be very attentive to signs of a flare-up and see your doctor to make an assessment of your condition if the latter occurs. 

The following symptoms often announce a flare-up of osteoarthritis: 

• a sudden increase in pain within a few days without apparent cause; 
• the onset of night pain;
• stiffness upon awakening lasting more than fifteen minutes;
• the appearance of redness and a feeling of warmth in the joint;
• the appearance of a joint effusion (the joint increases in size).

It is therefore important to distinguish between the symptoms of an osteoarthritic flare-up and normal pain. If you experience these symptoms, you should consult your doctor as he or she will prescribe the necessary treatment, as soon as possible, to relieve your pain and limit the destruction of your cartilage. 

In this case, he or she may confirm this diagnosis by prescribing further examinations, but this is not mandatory. 

The most useful examination is an X-ray of your joint. Your doctor will be able to compare it to the previous one to see if there is any worsening or not of signs that might indicate an acceleration in cartilage destruction. 

Ultrasound (examination currently being assessed for osteoarthritis) is simple, painless, and inexpensive and could, in the future, accompany the X-ray to assess the condition of the joint. 

Aspiration of joint fluid can also be carried out. It will relieve you and will ensure that your pain is due to a flare-up of osteoarthritis and not some other disease. This act may precede a corticosteroid injection treatment procedure. 

An MRI may be prescribed on an exceptional basis.