Managing a healthy weight offers overall health benefits, such as reducing the risk of heart issues and diabetes, improving sleep, etc. Additionally, reducing your excess weight can help improve the condition of arthritis patients. Excess weight can stress your weight-bearing joints, such as knees, hips, ankles, etc. Over time, the extra weight can increase the likelihood of developing arthritis and cause it to progress faster.In such cases, you should seek medical help to lose weight.
9 benefits of weight loss for arthritis patients
Healthy weight management offers the following health benefits for Arthritis patients. Let’s discuss them further.
Reduce stress on joints
A study published in Arthritis and Rheumatism of overweight and obese adults with knee osteoarthritis revealed that losing one pound can help reduce four pounds of pressure on your knees. Therefore, to reduce stress on your joints, you must seek medical help to lose weight.
Improve joint function
Reduced stress on your joints helps lower pressure and compression inside the joints. It further allows your joints to move more freely. With better joint movement, you experience less friction and inflammation. Additionally, it helps reduce wear and tear of joint surfaces.
Improved joint mobility
If your joint hurts, it can make any movement painful. Additionally, you may find it challenging to perform light walking or therapeutic exercises, which are supposed to help you with your symptoms. You can experience better mobility and become more physically active by relieving excess pressure on your joints.
Ease pain
Studies reveal that losing weight can help relieve your arthritis pain. A study published in Arthritis Care and Research finds that losing more weight to a certain extent can help in better pain relief. The study of overweight and obese seniors with knee osteoarthritis pain showed that losing more weight helped in better outcomes compared to losing less weight.
Reduce inflammation
Adipose tissue or body fat creates and releases pro-inflammatory chemicals. As you reduce the fat stores in your body, it helps reduce your body’s overall inflammation. A study published in autoimmunity reviews explained how obesity can activate and sustain body-wide low-grade inflammation. It can aggravate autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, etc.
Reduce disease activity
Losing weight can help reduce the overall arthritis symptoms. A study published in the International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology assessed the records of 171 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The study revealed that obese or overweight patients who lost at least 5 kg were three times more likely to have improved disease activity compared to ones who didn’t lose weight. Besides, a smaller study published in Arthritis Research and Therapy revealed that short-term weight loss in obese patients with Psoriatic Arthritis(PsA) resulted in positive effects on disease activity in joints, skin and entheses (where the tendon, ligament, fascia, or capsule is attached to the bone).
Improved chance of remission
Various studies revealed that obesity reduces the chances of minimal disease activity or remission for patients with RA or PsA. An article published in Arthritis Care and Research studied data of more than 3000 patients with RA. It found that compared to non-obese people, obese people have lower odds of achieving and sustaining remission. Additionally, an article in Joint, Bone, Spine evaluated various studies with records of 3800 patients. It found that obesity impedes the effects of anti-TNF agents. Further, it showed that the odds of achieving remission are lower in obese than non-obese patients on anti-TNF biologics.
Reduce uric acid level
An analysis of 10 studies published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases revealed that weight loss can benefit obese patients with gout. It is safe to say that patients who lost weight can experience reduced serum uric acid levels and fewer gout attacks.
Reduce cartilage degeneration in Osteoarthritis patients
A study published in Radiology asses MRIs of 640 overweight or obese patients with osteoarthritis. It is revealed that participants who lost weight over 4 years experienced significant reduced lower cartilage deterioration. Based on this result, it can be said that the more weight you will lose, the lower the rate of disease progression.
You need to understand that weight loss cannot help repair the joint damage resulting from arthritis. However, healthy weight management can help reduce your pain and slow down disease progression. If you are overweight or obese, regardless of whether you have started experiencing symptoms of arthritis, you should visit the medical professionals at Modest Medix. Our MD and RD can help identify the causes of your weight gain and the challenges you experience in keeping your weight off. Based on their analysis, they can offer weight loss programs in Ontario, Canada.
Reference list:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5875117/
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/intensive-weight-loss-helps-knee-arthritis
