Jumping exercises may help people at risk of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis

Women who have been through menopause and who are at risk of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis could benefit from a programme of high-impact jumping exercises, says research published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Experts assessed 80 postmenopausal women aged 50–65 years who experienced knee pain on most days of the month. Half were put into a training group so exercised according to a supervised progressive high-impact programme three times a week for 12 months. The rest were in a control group that continued their normal physical activity.
Women in the training had improved knee cartilage quality, with jumping exercises and tasks involving rapid changes of movement all associated with improved bone strength. The training programme was well tolerated and did not induce knee pain or stiffness.
Until now it has been thought that this type of exercise would be harmful to the integrity of the cartilage. The new research suggests the opposite may actually be true.
“The breaking of the collagen network and increased free water in the articular cartilage is considered to represent the onset of the degenerative process of osteoarthritis,” says Jarmo Koli, who is involved in the work. “If those cartilage-breaking changes can be hindered, stopped or even improved the quality of the cartilage via appropriate physical activity, it might slow down the disease progression.”
But Arthritis Research UK comments that while high impact exercise can be beneficial for people with or at risk of osteoporosis, it is widely accepted that less weight-bearing forms of physical activity such as cycling or swimming are preferable to high impact activity in people with knee osteoarthritis.

Image credit: Anthony Bayer Uplift