From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading:

While osteoarthritis usually makes a slow progression in the patients it afflicts, obesity can greatly speed up the progression of the condition. Being overweight can cause a rapid deterioration of cartilage in the knee, which in turn causes osteoarthritis. According to a recent study, for every one unit increase in body mass index (BMI), a person’s chance of rapid cartilage deterioration increases 11%. Osteoarthritis has no treatment other than symptomatic treatment—pain relief therapy and surgical total joint replacement—so losing weight and slowing down the progression of osteoarthritis is imperative for patients. Of course, losing weight also cuts down one’s risk of heart disease and diabetes. Osteoarthritis is the most common musculoskeletal disorder, and this correlation between obesity and osteoarthritis gives doctors yet another reason to urge their overweight patients to shed pounds.

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