Do your knees hurt?

"For each pound of weight lost, the knee will experience a fourfold reduction in load during daily activities, according to the results of a study published in the July issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. The authors suggest that this may be clinically meaningful in overweight and obese older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

"The most important modifiable risk factor for the development and progression of OA is obesity," write Stephen P. Messier, PhD, from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues. "Weight loss reduces the risk of symptomatic knee OA, and for obese patients with knee OA, weight loss and exercise are recommended by both the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism."

Medscape story here.