If movement were a pill, it would be the most powerful drug on the planet…
Dr Davina Deniszczyc, charity and medical director of Nuffield Health
About 3.7 million people in the UK are currently suffering from sore joints. If you’re one of them, the idea of a world-beating pain-relief medicine probably sounds highly appealing.
Could exercise be that pill? A major new study says we might have underestimated the sheer scale of its benefits.
A team of researchers from Nuffield Health, Manchester Metropolitan University and Frontier Economics offered 40,000 joint pain sufferers the chance to take part in free, weekly gym classes. After 12 weeks, the results were genuinely dramatic.
What did the study involve?
The research centred on people with pain in their knees, hip or back. Each participant was given access to two one-hour classes per week, led by a rehabilitation specialist, at one of Nuffield Health’s 110 private UK gyms. The classes provided structured exercise to help improve the patients’ mobility, stability, strength, and overall cardiovascular health. After 12 weeks, the research team dived into the data to see how the participants had fared and whether they’d seen any benefits.
What did the research discover?
The data revealed a big improvement, right across the board. As the Guardian reported, at the end of 12 weeks the patients who took part:
- had on average 35% less pain
- went to see their GP 29% less often
- took almost half as many sick days from work
- needed their family to look after them 21% less.
It’s worth noting that many of the participants felt unable to work because of their joint pain – about 25% of the total. By the end of the trial, however, almost 10% of those people were able to return to work. In public health terms, that’s a significant outcome.
How have experts reacted to the study?
The research team say the findings are so strong that the government should be taking note and considering a similar programme for the NHS. “Tailored, structured exercise is one of the most effective treatments for people with long-term conditions,” explains Dr Davina Deniszczyc, charity and medical director at Nuffield Health. “If movement were a pill, it would be the most powerful drug on the planet, yet it remains under-prescribed. Integrating it as a treatment into mainstream healthcare would transform lives on a scale no drug could.”
Do you have knee joint pain? 3 takeaways from the study
Like the research participants, you may be struggling with knee pain yourself. Maybe you’re managing arthritis-related joint pain and finding it tough going. Perhaps you’re waiting for a knee replacement and trying not to think about exercise right now. What can you take from this research? We think the study actually has a lot of positives for patients in your position. Here are three thoughts:
Reinforce the benefits
This study is a timely reminder of how important exercise is to recovery and rehab. We’ve known for years that regular movement improves almost every area of joint health. To take just a few examples, it: stimulates bone strengthening, improves blood flow, reduces joint strain by reducing excess weight and increases muscle strength (which means more support for the knee joint). The new research shows how that translates into reduced pain too. Indeed, other studies have demonstrated that regular exercise can boost the brain’s pain tolerance to an even greater degree than massage or stress management. Participants in this new study also reported an average “13-point rise in their quality of life scores.”
Keep doing what you can do
Knowing exercise is good for chronic knee pain is one thing. Actually building it into your routine when you feel rubbish is something else entirely. After all, this programme involved two hours of guided exercise every week – that’s a significant amount, and more than some will be able to manage. Yet the truth is that regular, gentle exercise of almost any kind is better than no exercise at all. The key is to keep doing what you feel able to do. And, secondly, to consider switching into lower-impact activities that might keep you moving when other exercise feels too much – things like swimming or hydrotherapy, or even cycling. On which note…
Consider group exercise
The less obvious aspect of this study is that the exercise happened in a group setting. The sessions weren’t carried out in isolation. They were guided by experts, in rooms full of other people facing very similar issues. Numerous studies have found that group-based exercise seems to have a significant impact on chronic pain relief (here’s one recent example). The reasons are likely social and psychological: being around others makes us feel better; sharing the same challenges and goals helps us to feel less isolated and encouraged to keep going. This is the principle behind ESCAPE-pain, a group-based rehab programme that has been doing some great work with patients who are struggling with long-term joint pain. It’s worth checking out if you haven’t come across it before.
Ready to read more?
You may find these articles helpful…
- Read the official report about the study – A new deal for long-term conditions (Frontier Economics)
- Learn more about Nuffield Health’s free Joint Pain Programme (Nuffield Health)
- Find out more about ESCAPE-pain: A course to help you manage knee pain (blog)
- Read more about exercise and pain relief: Why is exercise good for arthritis knee pain? (blog)
