Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Login Register
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Login Register
  • MD Brand Connect
  • Webinars
  • Vaccine Hub
  • MDTV
    • Breaking News
    • Medical News Today
    • Health News Today
    • Latest
    • Journal Club
    • Medico Legal Update
    • Latest Webinars
    • MD Shorts
    • Health Dialogues
  • Fact Check
  • Health Dialogues
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News & Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Fact Check
      • Bone Health Fact Check
      • Brain Health Fact Check
      • Cancer Related Fact Check
      • Child Care Fact Check
      • Dental and oral health fact check
      • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
      • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
      • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
      • Fitness fact check
      • Gut health fact check
      • Heart health fact check
      • Kidney health fact check
      • Medical education fact check
      • Men's health fact check
      • Respiratory fact check
      • Skin and hair care fact check
      • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
      • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Abroad
  • Industry
      • Health Investment News
      • Health Startup News
      • Medical Devices News
      • Pharma News
      • Pharmacy Education News
      • Industry Perspective
  • MDTV
      • Health Dialogues MDTV
      • Health News today MDTV
      • Latest Videos MDTV
      • Latest Webinars MDTV
      • MD shorts MDTV
      • Medical News Today MDTV
      • Medico Legal Update MDTV
      • Top Videos MDTV
      • Health Perspectives MDTV
      • Journal Club MDTV
      • Medical Dialogues Show
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
LoginRegister
Medical Dialogues
LoginRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news & Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Fact Check
    • Bone Health Fact Check
    • Brain Health Fact Check
    • Cancer Related Fact Check
    • Child Care Fact Check
    • Dental and oral health fact check
    • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
    • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
    • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
    • Fitness fact check
    • Gut health fact check
    • Heart health fact check
    • Kidney health fact check
    • Medical education fact check
    • Men's health fact check
    • Respiratory fact check
    • Skin and hair care fact check
    • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
    • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
      • Ayurveda Giuidelines
      • Ayurveda News
    • Homeopathy
      • Homeopathy Guidelines
      • Homeopathy News
    • Siddha
      • Siddha Guidelines
      • Siddha News
    • Unani
      • Unani Guidelines
      • Unani News
    • Yoga
      • Yoga Guidelines
      • Yoga News
  • State News
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chandigarh
    • Chattisgarh
    • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
    • Daman and Diu
    • Delhi
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Haryana
    • Himachal Pradesh
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Jharkhand
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Ladakh
    • Lakshadweep
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Manipur
    • Meghalaya
    • Mizoram
    • Nagaland
    • Odisha
    • Puducherry
    • Punjab
    • Rajasthan
    • Sikkim
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
    • Tripura
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • Uttrakhand
    • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Abroad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
    • Pharmacy Education News
    • Industry Perspective
  • Home
  • Orthopaedics
  • Orthopaedics News
  • Walking, cycling and...

Walking, cycling and swimming likely best exercise for knee osteoarthritis

Written By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2025-10-21T20:30:00+05:30  |  Updated On 21 Oct 2025 8:30 PM IST
Walking, cycling and swimming likely best exercise for knee osteoarthritis
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • Telegram
  • Email

For patients with knee osteoarthritis, aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming are likely to be the best exercise for improving pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

While other exercises may offer complementary benefits to patients, they should not replace aerobic exercise as the main strategy, say the researchers.

Osteoarthritis occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of bones wears away, causing pain, swelling, and impaired movement. While any joint can be affected, it’s most common in the knees, with nearly 30% of people over the age of 45 showing signs of knee osteoarthritis on x-rays, half of whom also have severe knee symptoms.

Exercise is one of the main treatments for osteoarthritis, but current guidelines provide limited information about the specific types of exercise that should be recommended for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

To fill this evidence gap, researchers set out to assess the effectiveness and safety of various types of exercise for managing knee osteoarthritis.

Their findings are based on the results of 217 randomised trials published between 1990 and 2024 involving 15,684 participants that compared common exercise therapies (aerobic, flexibility, strengthening, mind-body, neuromotor, and mixed exercise) with a control group.

The trials were of varying quality, but the researchers were able to assess the certainty of evidence using the recognised GRADE system.

The main measures of interest were pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life, assessed at short term (four weeks), mid-term (12 weeks), and long term (24 weeks) follow up.

Overall, aerobic exercise consistently showed the highest probability of being the best treatment across outcomes among the exercise therapies studied in clinical trials.

Moderate certainty evidence showed that, compared with controls, aerobic exercises were beneficial in relieving short and mid-term pain, improving short term, mid-term, and long term function, and improving short and mid-term gait performance and quality of life.

Moderate certainty evidence also showed that mind-body exercise probably results in a large increase in short term function, neuromotor exercise probably results in a large increase in short term gait performance, while strengthening and mixed exercise probably result in a large increase in function at mid-term follow-up.

None of the exercise interventions resulted in more adverse safety events than the control group, suggesting that exercise therapy is a safe treatment approach.

The authors acknowledge some limitations. For example, most results come from indirect comparisons, some outcomes lacked long-term data, and small-study effects may have influenced findings at early timepoints.

However, they say this study presents a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the effects of exercise intervention as a treatment strategy for knee osteoarthritis, which could assist clinicians in prescribing therapy to improve treatment outcomes for patients.

Given these findings, they suggest aerobic exercise “as a first line intervention for knee osteoarthritis management, particularly when the aim is to improve functional capacity and reduce pain” and say if aerobic exercise is not possible owing to individual limitations, “alternative forms of structured physical activity may still be beneficial.”

Reference:

https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj-2025-085242

The BMJknee osteoarthritisosteoarthritisWalkingexercise
Source : The BMJ
Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Show Full Article
Next Story

Editorial

EASD 2025: First-Ever Guidelines Released to Address Diabetes Distress

EASD 2025: First-Ever Guidelines Released to Address Diabetes Distress

PRO-ACT Study Compares Topical Minoxidil 5% with PRCT vs Plain Minoxidil 5% in Androgenetic Alopecia-Combination Shows Superior Efficacy

PRO-ACT Study Compares Topical Minoxidil 5% with PRCT vs Plain Minoxidil 5% in Androgenetic...

DAa-ViNCI Study: Real-World Data shows Efficacy of Vildagliptin-  Dapagliflozin FDC among High-CV Risk T2D in Indian Cardiology  Settings

DAa-ViNCI Study: Real-World Data shows Efficacy of Vildagliptin- Dapagliflozin FDC among High-CV...

Indias Unique CV Risk Profile: How to Decode the Role of Aspirin?

India's Unique CV Risk Profile: How to Decode the Role of Aspirin?

Vildagliptin-Dapagliflozin FDC Effective in High CV Risk Indian T2DM Patients: Findings from Latest DAa-ViNCI Study

Vildagliptin-Dapagliflozin FDC Effective in High CV Risk Indian T2DM Patients: Findings from Latest...

View All

Journal Club Today

Long-term Exercise Keeps Immune System Younger and Sharper: Study Finds

Long-term Exercise Keeps Immune System Younger and Sharper: Study Finds

View All

Health News Today

Health Bulletin 18/October/2025

Health Bulletin 18/October/2025

View All
© 2022 All Rights Reserved.
Powered By: Hocalwire
X
We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok