Joint pain is a reason why many people stop exercising so any insight into ways to halt the progression of osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms in the knee is always welcomed. A large scale study on this topic from the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Iowa is about to be published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.

3856 knees from 1602 men and 2254 women were followed for 30 months and assessed using x-rays to identify a particular form of deterioration associated with OA (joint space narrowing- JSN). Women with the weakest quadriceps at baseline were found to be a much greater risk for progression of JSN but the same was not true for men. This differential finding may be explained by the fact that men have relatively stronger knee joints and therefore a higher “strength reserve” before a damaging situation occurs.

The study suggests that, in addition to changing other lifestyle factors, women may gain additional protection against the progression of knee OA through resistance training of the quadriceps.

Read an abstract of the article here.