5 Ways Weight Loss Alleviates Arthritis Pain

No matter the type of arthritis, rheumatoid, psoriatic or osteo (which is the most common form by far), carrying around extra weight can increase joint pain and deterioration, especially in the weight-bearing knees and hips.

Approximately 70% of adult Americans are overweight or obese and about 35 million have some form of arthritis. When the two are combined in a single person, joint pain and degeneration is the inevitable result.

However, some of the pain can be alleviated through the simple act of losing weight through both diet AND exercise. All studies conducted on the link between weight loss and pain reduction in those suffering from arthritis reveal that the pain is lessened even more among those who regularly exercise.

Here’s five ways even a modest reduction in weight can lessen joint pain among those suffering from arthritis.

1. Less body weight lessens the load placed on weight-bearing joints. It’s really just a case of simple physics (wait, physics was never simple to me). The less you weigh the less pressure placed on your joints, especially your knees and hips. That reduced pressure causes reduced pain.Look at it this way, when walking on level ground, the force born by your knees is equal to 1.5 times your body weight.That means a 200-pound person will place 300 pounds of force on their knees with EVERY step. That number increases to two to three times your body weight when you go up or down stairs and four to five times your body weight when you squat to pick up a dropped item or tie your shoelace. See? Physics! The less pressure you place on your joints, the less pain you’ll suffer with.
2. Less body fat equates to less joint inflammation which equates to less pain.Fat tissue in our bodies produces proteins, like interleukin-6 and leptin, which cause inflammation in and around our joints. This inflammation, or swelling, causes pain and immobility within the affected joints. Reduce the amount of fat tissue within the body, the amount of inflammation causing proteins are reduced which causes a reduction in the amount of joint pain. All of this is linked to weight loss.
3. Reduced weight also improves joint function and flexibility. However, this takes place over a long period of time as calorie and fat reduction continues combined with increased activity level. This improved joint function reduces pain as the joint is able to attain a fuller range of motion.
4. Weight loss will reduce the overall severity of arthritis and will cause improved disease activity. If you lose just ten pounds, you’re three times as likely to have improved disease activity and can reduce your risk of contracting certain autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and lupus and the pain associated with those disorders.
5. Weight loss also slows cartilage degeneration within weight-bearing joints. Cartilage is a connective tissue which is found throughout the body in joints, bones, lungs, ears and nose. For our purposes, we are concerned with the cartilage that acts as a cushion within joints and between bones, such as the knee, known as fibrocartilage.Within the knee, this cartilage cushion is called the meniscus and prevents the femur (upper leg) from grinding on the tibia (lower leg). This cartilage degeneration can cause severe pain and is hastened by excess weight. Reduced body weight leads to reduced meniscus deterioration which leads to reduced pain.

There you have it, the direct link between body weight, arthritis and pain. The more I read and write about the detrimental effects of being overweight, the more determined I become to keep the weight off, even as I become more sedentary with age. Keep up the good fight…it’s well worth it!