Medial tibial cartilage volumes were significantly larger in women who exercised.
Although exercise is promoted for the prevention of many diseases associated with aging, it is unclear what effect exercise has on degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee. To examine the relation between exercise and knee joint cartilage, Australian investigators recruited 176 women (from a larger cross-sectional study of 1400 women) without knee osteoarthritis or history of knee pain or knee injury. All women underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the dominant knee.
Fully 78% of the women (average age, 52; age range, 40–67; average body-mass index, 27 kg/m2) reported engaging in exercise intense enough to cause tachypnea and tachycardia for at least 20 minutes at least once in the previous 14 days. These women had significantly lower weight and BMI but significantly larger — by about 8% — medial tibial cartilage volumes than women who did not exercise. There was also a tendency toward a positive association between exercise frequency and the medial tibial cartilage volume, in analyses adjusted for age and BMI.
Comment: Because prevention of cartilage loss can forestall osteoarthritis, the authors suggest that exercise may be protective. At least they found no evidence of harm. For those of us who exercise regularly, these findings are intriguing and suggest the need for prospective studies to confirm or refute.
Published in Journal Watch General Medicine September 25, 2007
Hanna F et al. The cross-sectional relationship between fortnightly exercise and knee cartilage properties in healthy adult women in midlife. Menopause 2007 Sep/Oct; 14:830.
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