NEW YORK, Jul 22 (Reuters Health) -- Regular exercise therapy can reduce the pain and disability associated with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, according to a report published in the July issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Investigators led by Dr. Margriet van Baar of the Netherlands Institute of Primary Health Care in Utrecht, the Netherlands, reviewed the results of six studies that focused on the effects of exercise in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. "Exercises included aerobic exercises or resistance (i.e. weight-training) exercises," according to van Baar and colleagues.

They report small but significant "beneficial effects" from exercise therapy, including improvements in self-reported pain, disability, walking ability, and overall sense of well-being. Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee appeared to derive more benefit from exercise than those affected by osteoarthritis of the hip.

The investigators caution that these benefits may only last over the short-term, since "hardly any information is available on long-term effects of exercise therapy" in osteoarthritic patients. The authors were also unable to identify which types of exercise were most effective in relieving disease symptoms.

SOURCE: Arthritis & Rheumatism 1999;42:1361-1369.

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