Early knee arthritis symptoms

Early knee arthritis symptoms

Research indicates possible early knee arthritis symptoms could first be felt when walking up and down stairs

It is possible that sufferers of knee pain when walking up and down stairs may be displaying the first symptoms of osteoarthritis, a new study at the University of Leeds has found.

Published in the medical journal Arthritis Care & Research, the research’s main aim was to analyse which patient-reported activities were associated with their knee pain. This would help them to improve early signs and detection of osteoarthritis and thereby improve the chances for others looking for effective treatment.

As things stand in this day and age, we have very little understanding of early osteoarthritis and physicians tend to only intervene once pain symptoms have been chronic and knee function has been limited.

Learning to be able to identify osteoarthritis in its infant stages will enable medical practitioners to use more effective and relevant modalities in treating and managing the arthritis.

The study surveyed the case studies for up to 7 years to look at the long term implications and onset of pain for knee osteoarthritis. The study showed that using stairs was the primary and first load-bearing activity done by the subjects to exhibit the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Following stairs, there was pain during walking, standing, lying and/or sitting and lastly, when the subject was lying in bed.