Painful Knees Often Tied to Pain
in Other Joints
MONDAY, Nov. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The pain of
knee osteoarthritis is more severe in people who also have foot, elbow and
lower back pain, a new study has found.
In the study, researchers asked almost 1,400 knee
osteoarthritis (OA) patients, aged 45 to 79, about pain in the lower back,
neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, hip, knee, ankle or foot.
Low back pain was significantly associated with
higher knee pain scores. Foot and elbow pain were also significantly associated
with a higher knee pain score, the investigators found.
In addition, pain in multiple joints, regardless of
location, was associated with greater knee pain, the study authors reported.
The findings were released online in advance of
publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Arthritis Care &
Research.
"Our findings show that pain in the low back,
foot and elbow may be associated with greater knee pain, confirming that
symptomatic knee OA rarely occurs in isolation. Future studies are needed to
determine whether treatment of pain occurring elsewhere in the body will
improve therapy outcomes for knee OA," Dr. Pradeep Suri, of Harvard
Medical School, New England Baptist Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation
Hospital in Boston, stated in a news release from the journal's publisher.
More information
SOURCE: Arthritis Care & Research, news
release, Nov. 17, 2010
