Joint Action

The prevalence of osteoarthritis continues to grow with the increasing rates of obesity. Obesity is a major risk factor for the progression of osteoarthritis and those who are obese are at an increased risk for requiring a total knee replacement.   By preventing weight-related osteoarthritis as well as helping to manage people’s weight, we may be able to reduce the burden of OA. The effects o...

Managing osteoarthritis pain remains a challenge for patients and clinicians. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are often used despite the potential risk associated with long-term use. In recent years, new advances have led to the exploration of central acting medications such as duloxetine for osteoarthritis pain. Despite this, those with OA continue to suffer from inadequate pain relief. By...

Despite the numerous guidelines supporting exercise and weight loss/management for osteoarthritis, they are challenging to implement in day-to-day life. Key actions for management are often not reaching health care providers and patients do not always receive high-value care. One of the biggest barriers to behaviour change is getting people to start and adhere to a lifestyle intervention. On a sys...

Physiotherapists play an important role in osteoarthritis management. A good physiotherapist can aid in the reduction of OA symptoms, however, one major ongoing issue is the problem of low-value healthcare. Low value healthcare are treatments which broadly encompasses passive modalities such as interferential current, ultrasound, unnecessary imaging in favour of high value treatments such as exerc...

Osteoarthritis pain remains a large unmet clinical need. One common tool in the clinician’s armamentarium has been a steroid injection. They are widely used but recent evidence has questioned their efficacy for pain relief and potentially associated ongoing structural changes, including accelerating the underlying structural progression.   On this episode of Joint Action, we will hear from Al...

The way in which people talk about their osteoarthritis is varied and this is reflected in their attitudes towards health and healthcare. This provides great insight into what the condition means to patients but ultimately how they are able to cope and manage their symptoms. For example, using terms such as “wear and tear” or “worn out” often discourages patients to be actively involved in the man...

Orthobiologics such as platelet-rich-plasma, and stem cells have gained popularity as treatments for knee osteoarthritis over recent years. Orthobiologics are cells, blood components or growth factors which claim to promote healing and decrease inflammation. Platelet rich plasma and stem cell injections are an expensive treatment and there is a paucity of rigorous evidence to support the use of th...

The Joint Action podcast was launched in April 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic and since then, we have grown our listener base to an international audience. We aim to bring evidence based and up-to-date knowledge about osteoarthritis to our listeners by interviewing the world’s experts in osteoarthritis.   On this very special episode of Joint Action, we will be chatting to David to learn m...

The prevalence of osteoarthritis is increasing rapidly with the latest estimates suggesting 500 million people around the world are affected. The consequent disability and socioeconomic impact is an enormous. In that context of massive prevalence and disability we are faced with a disease where it’s most pressing presenting symptom, pain, remains largely an unmet need. With that background in mind...

One common misconception about osteoarthritis is that it is an old’s person disease. However, we know that osteoarthritis can affect younger persons as well. Meaghan Nixon is a martial artist who has practiced karate for over 20 years competing both nationally and internationally representing Australia. Career highlights include a silver medal in 2012 at the Shotokan Karate World Championships in...

The impact of osteoarthritis remains a major challenge for healthcare systems worldwide with approximately 528 million people affected. The global prevalence of hip and knee OA is approaching 5% and expected to increase further with the aging population. The increasing rates of obesity in adults, combined with lack of physical activity and joint injuries are also contributing to the rise in OA inc...

Osteoarthritis places a large burden on the individuals that are affected as well is to society as a whole. It is important to reflect that that burden is not distributed equally. The prevalence of osteoarthritis is higher amongst women compared to men. Women also experience higher rates of disease severity and disability. In an effort to better understand these disparities with the overarching fo...

Despite the large prevalence of osteoarthritis, there is no clinically approved drug which provides a cure. Currently, drugs focus on relieving symptoms such as pain. Experiments done in the laboratory have provided insight on osteoarthritis onset and progression and will likely guide therapeutic development.   We know that osteoarthritis is a disease of the whole organ meaning that any of th...

There are many reasons why osteoarthritis (OA) might develop in the first place, the progression of the disease can vary dramatically between different individuals and their response to different treatments can similarly be quite distinct. With the greater understanding OA pathophysiology, OA can often be described as a spectrum of disease composed of different phenotypes. Some people have even de...

Like other chronic conditions, the symptoms of osteoarthritis tend to fluctuate. About 25-30% of people suffering from knee osteoarthritis also suffer from what we call OA “flares” or “exacerbations”. These “flares” are often described as temporary episodes of increased pain, stiffness and swelling, which may also be accompanied by other physical and psychological symptoms. “Flares” can cause cons...

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Despite the prevalence, impact and disability associated with osteoarthritis, it is still relatively poorly understood. New insights are affording a window into previously held strong beliefs that we now consider as misconceptions. Many people in the community simply believe that osteoarthritis is a consequence of getting older. Others believe that the joint has no capacity for repair and some hav...

Osteoarthritis is a frequent reason for patients to visit their GP or primary care practitioner, and the predominant reason they would do so is because of increasing difficulty with activities and pain. GPs are often the primary person into many healthcare systems and are typically visited before seeing any other health care practitioner for exercise, diet or surgery. Patients with osteoarthritis...

About 70% of people living with osteoarthritis are reported to be taking some form of complementary or alternative medicine for their osteoarthritis. The most common products are fish oil, glucosamine, vitamin D, chondroitin and herbal medicines. This is a very controversial area with differences between what is recommended by physicians, international guidelines, industry and marketing and then u...

The first line pain relieving medication recommended in most therapeutic guidelines for osteoarthritis is the anti-inflammatory group of medications. They consistently demonstrate modest effects for relieving pain and improving function, pretty much irrespective of the site of osteoarthritis whether that be the hand, knee or hip. There is a huge variety of anti-inflammatories available, different...

Osteoarthritis is an extraordinarily prevalent and disabling disease. The prevalence appears to be increasing, in large part compounded by the ageing of the population but also with major contributions from demographic shifts as it relates to obesity are leading to increasing numbers of people with osteoarthritis. The two biggest risk factors for knee osteoarthritis are obesity and overweight and...

Current management approaches for osteoarthritis are usually targeted to symptoms. One way to mitigate the epidemic of osteoarthritis is to modify both its structural progression and symptomatic consequences in tandem a method known as disease modification, as distinct from symptom modification. These could potentially slow the speed of disease progression, completely halted or in an ideal world r...

The economic burden due to osteoarthritis (OA) is massive and is the result of direct costs to the health care system, indirect costs to individuals living with OA, and the intangible costs of living with a chronic disabling condition. Compared to age and sex-matched peers, OA patients incur higher out of pocket health-related expenditures. People with OA also incur substantial costs due to lost p...

Hand osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal disease and associated with hand pain, stiffness, functional limitation and quality of life. For a long time, hand osteoarthritis was a "forgotten disease", resulting in a paucity of good quality clinical trials to help guide the management. However, in more recent years, hand osteoarthritis has gained more attraction and new data to support treatmen...

Foot osteoarthritis affects one in six adults over the age of 50. It is associated with restricted mobility, disability, poor balance, risk of falling and accounts for a substantial number of healthcare consultations. Due to this, there is an increasing interest in research into foot osteoarthritis and we are learning more about foot osteoarthritis and it's prevalence, risk factors and treatments...