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Report nowAccording to a study, osteoarthritis sufferers can slow down the progression of their disease by slightly adjusting their gait. The method also has positive consequences for the perception of pain.
According to Valentina Mazzoli, co-leader of the study published in the journal "The Lancet Rheumatology", this "simple and relatively inexpensive way of treating osteoarthritis in its early stages" could reduce the strain on the knees.
Osteoarthritis causes the cartilage tissue in the joint to break down. If the protective cartilage is destroyed, this leads to severe pain. Those affected can no longer put proper weight on the knee, often do less sport and are restricted in their everyday life.
The disease usually occurs with increasing age and cannot be cured. It is treated with physiotherapy, painkillers and, in the most severe cases, knee replacement surgery. According to Arthrose-Hilfe, exercise without weight-bearing is helpful, "as this nourishes the joint cartilage better and slows down the progression of osteoarthritis".
This was also recently confirmed in a review study by a team of researchers from the First People's Hospital of Neijiang (China) in the specialist journal "PLOS One": In addition to knee orthoses, water aerobics and other forms of exercise were the most promising non-drug therapies. The results were compiled from 139 studies with a total of almost 10,000 patients.
The team led by Valentina Mazzoli with researchers from the Langone Health Clinic at New York University and the University of Utah and Stanford has now investigated whether a change in foot position when walking can specifically reduce the strain on the joint.
To this end, 34 men and women with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis were instructed to bend their feet inwards or outwards by five or ten degrees from their natural alignment. Each participant was tested to see which foot position suited him or her best. 34 other affected people were given uninformed instructions without any suggestions for change.
The researchers write in the journal "The Lancet Rheumatology" that they were all asked to walk accordingly for at least 20 minutes a day. Comparisons were made over the course of a year and the effects of the modified gait on the knee were monitored at the end using MRI scans.
The results indicate that the degeneration of the cartilage on the inside of the knee was slowed down in the test subjects who corrected their foot position. "Although our results need to be confirmed in future studies, they suggest the possibility that the new, non-invasive treatment could help to delay surgery," Mazzoli is quoted as saying in the press release.
In addition, according to the test subjects, pain was reduced by 2.5 points on a ten-point scale. According to the press release, this is an "effect equivalent to that of over-the-counter painkillers".
"These results underscore the importance of personalized treatment rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to osteoarthritis," explained co-principal investigator Mazzoli. "While this strategy may sound difficult, recent advances in recognizing the movement of different parts of the body using artificial intelligence could make it easier and faster than ever before."
13.08.2025, 06:59
