A recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise suggests that regular bicycling throughout one's life may lead to a lower prevalence of frequent knee pain, radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA), and symptomatic radiographic osteoarthritis (SOA). The research was conducted by Dr. Grace Lo, associate professor of medicine – allergy, immunology and rheumatology at Baylor, who is also the first author of the paper.
The study used data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, an observational study of knee osteoarthritis in individuals aged 45 to 79. Participants were asked about their physical activity over their lifetime, including bicycling activities during four age periods: ages 12–18; 19–34; 35–49; and age 50 and older. More than half of the over 2,600 participants reported a consistent history of biking.
Findings from the study indicated that individuals who had engaged in bicycling at any point in their lives reported less knee pain, ROA and SOA than those who never biked. Furthermore, those who biked consistently across different age periods reported even fewer instances of these conditions.
"Compared to non-bicyclers, bicyclers were 17% less likely to have frequent knee pain, 9% percent less likely to have ROA, and 21% less likely to have SOA," said Dr. Lo. "Additionally, each increase in the number of age periods engaged in bicycling resulted in lower likelihood of reporting knee pain, ROA and SOA."
While the main limitation of this study was its reliance on retrospectively gathered information about bicycling habits, respondents were not aware of the hypothesis when recording their biking history which reduces potential recall bias.
Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative has also been used to evaluate running and swimming as forms of activity that may lead to less knee pain, SOA and ROA.
"The natural history of osteoarthritis is very long, making it difficult to track the different exercises you’ll do throughout your life as well as their impact on joint health," Dr. Lo said. "The big takeaway from this observational study is that if people are concerned about knee pain, ROA and SOA later in life, biking may serve as a way to prevent this and that the more often they do it throughout their lives, the higher the probability of better knee health."
Jeffery B. Driban from the University of Massachusetts is the corresponding author on the paper. Other contributors include Michael J. Richard (Tufts Medical Center); Andrea M. Kriska (University of Pittsburgh); Timothy E. McAlindon (Tufts Medical Center); Matthew Harkey (Michigan State University); Bonny Rockette-Wagner (University of Pittsburgh); Charles B. Eaton; Marc C. Hochberg (University of Maryland School of Medicine); C. Kent Kwoh (University of Arizona College of Medicine); Jeffrey B. Driban (University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School); Michael C .Nevitt (University of California San Francisco); and Preeya B. Bhakta and Colin P. McLaughlin of Baylor.
This research was supported by a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases funded mentored award, in part with resources at the Health Services Research and Development Service Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
