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Knee Pain Not Tied to Activity Levels in Knee Osteoarthritis

Neither inverted KOOS-pain nor P4 pain scale tied to physical activity

THURSDAY, March 14, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Knee pain is not associated with daily walking levels in individuals with mild-to-moderate, symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (KOA), according to a study published online March 6 in Arthritis Care & Research.

Nicholas M. Brisson, from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues collected data from 59 individuals (48 women; mean age, 61.1 years; mean body mass index, 28.1 kg/m²) with clinical KOA for up to three years. Physical activity was measured by accelerometer and was characterized as the average steps per day taken over at least three days.

The researchers found that age, body mass index, and season were predictors of physical activity. In contrast, neither the inverted Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)-pain nor the P4 pain scale was associated with physical activity.

“While pain management remains an important target of interventions, strategies to increase steps per day in this population should focus on overcoming potentially more crucial barriers to activity participation,” the authors write.

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