Osteoarthritis

According to the Arthritis Foundation, 66 million (nearly one in three adults) suffer from chronic joint pain and 21 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, which is characterized by a breakdown of the cartilage and a deterioration of the fluid in a joint. The symptoms of osteoarthritis include pain, from moderate to severe, and stiffness. Most people who have osteoarthritis are older than age 45, and women are more commonly affected than men.

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that involves the degradation of joints, articular cartilage, and subchondral bone as a result of mechanical stress.

Osteoarthritis Types

Osteoarthritis and Diet

Causes of Hand Pain

Osteoarthritis Diagnosis

Osteoarthritis Triggers

Turmeric for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis Symptoms

Should You Exercise With Osteoarthritis?

Supplements for Osteoarthritis

Natural Ways to Ease Osteoarthritis Pain

Osteoarthritis Causes

See more featured articles »

Osteoarthritis Treatments

Osteoarthritis Complications

Living with Osteoarthritis

Easing Hand Pain in Osteoarthritis

Latest Osteoarthritis News and Research

Home exercise alone highly effective for meniscal tear and osteoarthritis pain, says study

People with a meniscal tear and osteoarthritis prescribed home exercises with or without physical therapy reported substantial improvements in knee pain, according to a new study led by Mass General Brigham researchers.

30 Oct 2025

$Reducing femoral fractures in total hip replacement with safer implant designs$

Reducing femoral fractures in total hip replacement with safer implant designs

As populations continue to age, total hip replacement (THR) is becoming an increasingly common surgical procedure.

28 Oct 2025

Obesity’s health risks shift with age and sex, new genetic study reveals

Using a new time-resolved Mendelian randomization approach in over 360,000 UK Biobank participants, Karlsson et al. revealed that the causal impact of obesity changes across life, with distinct age- and sex-specific risk patterns for diabetes, heart disease, atrial fibrillation, and osteoarthritis.

27 Oct 2025

What Britain’s post-war sugar rationing teaches us about long-term heart health

A BMJ study found that individuals exposed to sugar rationing during their first 1,000 days of life had significantly lower risks of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure in adulthood. Early-life sugar restriction was linked to a 2.5-year delay in cardiovascular disease onset, suggesting long-term benefits for heart health.

26 Oct 2025

Football injuries, not injections, explain why retired players face higher osteoarthritis risk

Retired UK male footballers face a markedly higher risk of foot and ankle osteoarthritis (OA), primarily due to prior injuries sustained during their careers. While corticosteroid injections were linked with OA, this association likely reflects treatment for injury rather than a direct cause.

23 Oct 2025

Foot or ankle injuries in professional football players may increase risk of osteoarthritis

A new paper in Rheumatology, published by Oxford University Press, finds that retired UK male professional football players who reported foot or ankle injuries during their careers were more likely to develop osteoarthritis in retirement.

22 Oct 2025

Aerobic exercise found to be most effective for knee osteoarthritis

For patients with knee osteoarthritis, aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming are likely to be the best exercise for improving pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

15 Oct 2025

AI system predicts future knee X-rays to transform osteoarthritis care

An AI system that can predict what a patient's knee X-ray will look like a year in the future could transform how millions of people with osteoarthritis understand and manage their condition, according to research by the University of Surrey.

14 Oct 2025

Tramadol found to offer limited relief for chronic pain while raising risk of serious side effects

The strong opioid painkiller, tramadol, is not that effective at easing chronic pain for which it's widely prescribed, finds a pooled data analysis of the available research, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine.

7 Oct 2025

Combining radiopharmaceuticals with targeted radiation improves progression-free survival in prostate cancer patients

A new clinical trial finds that people with a limited number of metastases from recurrent prostate cancer lived significantly longer without disease progression when they received a radiopharmaceutical drug before targeted radiation, compared with radiation alone.

29 Sep 2025

Low-dose radiation therapy may be a suitable option for people with painful knee osteoarthritis

A single course of low-dose radiation therapy may provide a safe and effective alternative treatment option for people with painful knee osteoarthritis according to a new randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

29 Sep 2025

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals key genes and potential targeted drugs for OA treatment

Researchers from the Department of Orthopedics at Taicang TCM Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine have made significant strides in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying osteoarthritis (OA).

26 Sep 2025

Healthy habits linked to younger brain age

Your chronological age may say 65, but your brain could be acting a decade younger - or older - depending on your life experiences.

25 Sep 2025

Population aging identified as largest contributor to the increasing burden of musculoskeletal disorders

Novel research shows that in approximately one third of countries and territories worldwide, population aging was the largest contributor to the growing burden of musculoskeletal disorders from 1990 to 2021.

16 Sep 2025

GLP-1 drugs may offer cost-effective treatment for people with knee osteoarthritis and obesity

A new study led by investigators at Mass General Brigham finds that adding novel weight loss GLP-1 drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide to usual care represents a cost-effective treatment strategy for people with knee osteoarthritis and obesity, with tirzepatide providing greater health benefits at lower cost compared to semaglutide.

16 Sep 2025