A recent scientific breakthrough by Chen at al. could significantly improve how we treat cartilage damage — a common problem in joints like knees and hips that often leads to long-term pain and arthritis. Cartilage is notoriously slow to heal, largely because its cells (called chondrocytes) have limited access to energy. To tackle this, researchers…
A study published last month in Science Advances followed a group of women over an 8-year period and investigated the development of knee osteoarthritis (OA) through the lens of molecular markers in the blood. Here’s a breakdown of the key findings: Overall, the study highlights the potential of molecular biomarkers in identifying and understanding OA…
It’s well-known that obesity can cause or exacerbate osteoarthritis (OA) through excessive mechanical loading. But another mechanism through which obesity can affect joint health is via inflammation and we now know that our gut microbes play a crucial role. Recent research by Schott et al. has looked into the link between obesity, gut microbes and…
A group of researchers from McGill University looked at the effects of yoga on people with arthritis. Their findings were published in The Journal of Rheumatology. 75 sedentary adults with either rheumatoid arthritis or knee osteoarthritis and with a mean age of 52 years were randomly assigned to a yoga group or a waiting list….
Most of us have us have used paracetamol at some point in our lives, whether to bring down a fever, for a headache, joint pain or some other painful condition. In fact, if we have a look in our medicine cabinets we’ll probably find a box…or two! Machado et al. from George Institute for Global Health…
It’s well known that increasing the time spent doing moderate intensity physical activities has wide ranging benefits on health. Guidelines recommend 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity. What about those unable to engage in moderate or vigorous physical activities due to health issues? Could light physical activity work too? A study…
In a recent study published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases and reported in Medical News Today, Sara Kelly and colleagues from the Arthritis Research UK Pain Centre at The University of Nottingham have discovered a new way to possibly decrease the chronic pain affecting people with osteoarthritis. They studied a protein receptor called TRPV1 which is present…
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common source of joint pain, stiffness and swelling. It’s a leading cause of chronic disability and affects about 8 million people in the UK and 27 million in the US. OA leads to the gradual degeneration or wear and tear of joint surfaces and is often the cause of knee and…