Quick Facts
Answers to Common Questions
Tips to Reduce the Risk of Osteoarthritis
Helpful Resources
ATOAC Newsletter Clinician’s Corner
ATOAC Webinars
Want to help perform osteoarthritis-related research in sports medicine? Please contact us.
Quick Facts
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- While physical activity is good for joints some athletes are at risk for osteoarthritis.
- Individuals with a history of knee injury are 3 to 6 times more likely to have osteoarthritis than a person with no history of injury.
- Individuals with a prior injury are often diagnosed with osteoarthritis 10 years younger than their peers.
- OA is not just for older adults. More than 50% of adults with osteoarthritis are under 65 years of age.
- Young people with osteoarthritis are psychologically distressed & frequently report work disability.
- Lower extremity post-traumatic osteoarthritis costs >$3 billion/year in direct healthcare expenses
- What is the average active person’s risk for knee arthritis?
- Lifetime risk for diagnosed symptomatic knee OA is about 14% regardless of whether or not they were a former athlete.
- How common is this condition?
- Osteoarthritis, which is the most common form of arthritis and affects more than 30 million Americans.
- Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of disability.
- Osteoarthritis will become more common as the population ages and the obesity epidemic worsens.
- How is it diagnosed?
- Osteoarthritis is typically diagnosed based a physical exam by a healthcare professional. In some cases x-rays or other imaging or lab tests may be ordered if the clinician is concerned about other possible causes of the joint symptoms.
- What are the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis?
- Symptoms can vary greatly among people. Pain, stiffness, hearing or feeling a grating, functional limitations, diminished range of motion are common symptoms. If your joint doesn’t feel normal it’s always wise to mention it to a healthcare professional.
- Does osteoarthritis always cause symptoms?
- No, while people with osteoarthritis are more likely to have symptoms it is possible that some people can walk around with very bad looking joints on x-rays but be asymptomatic but the opposite can also be true where someone with mild disease may have severe symptoms.
- At what age do people typically develop this condition?
- Osteoarthritis is typically diagnosed between 55 to 64 years
- Despite people thinking it’s a disease of older adults – more than half of all persons with symptomatic osteoarthritis are younger than 65 years
- People with a previous joint injury are often diagnosed 10 years earlier than their peers.
- Younger people with osteoarthritis report significant decreases in quality of life and work-related disability and will likely live several decades with disability.
- Can anything be done to reverse osteoarthritis?
- No, no intervention has been approved by the US FDA to stop, slow or reverse the onset or progression of osteoarthritis.
- We can take steps to reduce the risk of osteoarthritis (weight management, injury prevention program)
- Does being an active person who exercises or plays sports increase the chance someone will develop osteoarthritis?
- No, being active, including running, poses no harm and may even be beneficial.
- However, some athletes may be more likely to have osteoarthritis later in life. For example, athletes with a joint injury and participants in soccer, elite-level long distance running, elite-level wrestling, and elite-level weightlifting.
- Can knee injuries lead to osteoarthritis?
- A person with a history of a knee injury is 3 to 6 times more likely to get knee osteoarthritis than their peer.
- How does being inactive change my chance of osteoarthritis?
- Physical inactivity contributes to an increase in weight gain and obesity, which is a major factor that contributes to osteoarthritis.
- Being inactive also increases a person’s risk for other chronic disease and may lower the person’s quality of life.
Tips to Reduce the Risk of Osteoarthritis
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- Support and implement evidence-based primary injury-prevention interventions to reduce the risk of acute traumatic joint injuries (see helpful resources below).
- Educate patients with joint injuries about their increased risk of osteoarthritis, other common risk factors for OA, self-management strategies to minimize the burden of osteoarthritis, and strategies to regularly monitor changes in joint health.
- Encourage athletes to maintain a physically active lifestyle once their participation in competitive sports has ceased to reduce the risk of obesity and promote long-term health and wellness.
- Use existing guidelines and recommendations for managing OA among physically active individuals (also see this full text)
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- Journal of Athletic Training – Special Issue on Osteoarthritis
- The Role of Athletic Trainers in Preventing and Managing Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis in Physically Active Populations: a Consensus Statement of the Athletic Trainers’ Osteoarthritis Consortium
- Knee OA as a long-term consequence of injury – Lower Extremity Review
- Osteoarthritis: Staying in the game is a ‘joint’ effort! – Osteoarthritis Action Alliance Infographic
- Preventing ACL Injuries and Improving Performance – Osteoarthritis Action Alliance (Brochures and Consensus Opinion on Best Practice Features)
- National Public Health Agenda for Osteoarthritis 2010
ATOAC Newsletter Clinician’s Corner
The Clinician’s Corner features the previous month’s most-talked about research article. We ask the authors for a clinical take home message and ask a clinician to provide feedback on how they can use the research to improve their practice.- Purpose: to determine the agreement between 3-D sagittal plane biomechanics and percent limb difference during the triple hop for distance task in patients with a previous ACL reconstruction.
- Individuals achieve symmetrical hop-distance using different knee biomechanical strategies after ACLR
- Trial-by-trial analyses have utility, as averages can mask failures
- These findings do not undermine the value of the return to sport hop testing, as these criteria have been associated with higher re-injury rates
Clinical take home message:
Clinician Opinion:
Dane Langellier, MS, ATC Associate Athletic Trainer at Illinois State University, agrees with [Dr. Burland’s] findings stating “our athlete’s performance and symmetry on the triple hop test mask their actual ability to perform more sport-specific tasks and these tests over-predict their true functional ability.” While the triple hop test is one of several functional tasks his athletes perform (see: Advanced Lower Extremity Sports Assessment (ALESA)), Mr. Langiller also uses other clinical assessments like visual inspection of a double-limb squat task to evaluate movement performance based on limb symmetry and favoring of their non-injured limb.Mr. Langiller stated when using hop tests to assess functional performance he follows guidelines from the ALESA measuring the average of 3 trials and comparing those between limbs with a recommended 85% agreement between limbs before progressing into more difficult functional tasks. He also said “We use [the ALESA] throughout the rehabilitation process to measure an athletes’ progression- we can show them how much they are improving by showing their limb symmetry gradually increasing.”
When asked about his thoughts on Dr. Burland’s recommendations to assess hop tests trial-by-trial, he replied “I can see [individual trials] giving us a better story than the average scores” but their decision to begin a return to play progression is based off much more than just functional hop testing. “Once you see an athlete attempting their sport-specific movements in a simulated practice environment, that’s when you can tell if they are ready to return to play.”
- Journal of Athletic Training – Special Issue on Osteoarthritis
Athletic Trainers' Osteoarthritis Consortium 