美国西北大学医学院的研究人员日前调查发现，超过50％的女性和40％的男性关节炎患者在日常生活中缺乏体育锻炼。关于这一现象，专家们认为肯定不合适，因为适量的运动不仅可以缓解因关节炎导致的疼痛，改善患者的活动能力，即有利于提高患者的生活自理能力和增进生活质量；且可避免因体育锻炼不够而导致的体重增加、骨质疏松和肌肉萎缩等。因此，专家们建议关节炎患者应该尽量遵循“每周完成150分钟（每天约20分钟）的中等强度、冲击力较小的体育锻炼”的保健指南，而不应该成为每天只坐在沙发上人（couch potatoes），因为适量的体育锻炼给关节炎患者带来的益处远大于伤害。

Many Arthritis Patients May Not Be Exercising Enough

More than half of women, 40% of men were deemed 'couch potatoes' by researchers

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

FRIDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Although being physically active is one of the best ways people with osteoarthritis can alleviate pain and improve their ability to get around, a new study shows that people with the joint disease are much more sedentary than previously thought.

Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine found that more than half of women and 40 percent of men with knee osteoarthritis are basically "couchpotatoes," and not engaging in the physical activity that is vital to their health.

Using a small device called an accelerometer, researchers measured the physical activity of more than 1,000 people aged 49 to 84 with radiographic knee osteoarthritis for one week.

Although federal guidelines recommend that adults with arthritis participate in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, low-impact activity each week (about 20 minutes per day), the study revealed that fewer than one in seven men, and only one in 12 women actually met those guidelines.

Meanwhile, 40.1 percent of men and 56.5 percent of women did not sustain 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity over the course of the week, and were therefore deemed "inactive."

These levels of physical activity were significantly lower than what had been reported in previous studies that relied on participants' self-reported accounts of exercise and activity.

"We had assumed that people might be overstating physical activity in past self-reported data, but were surprised to find that the physical activity rates were much, much lower than what was previously reported," study author Dorothy Dunlop, an associate professor of medicine at Feinberg, said in a university news release.

Dunlop said the findings, published in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, should be a "wake-up call" for doctors.

"Even though they have joint disease, patients need to be reminded that physical activity is actually good for them," Dunlop added. "People with arthritis should be as physically active as possible, even if they accomplish less than the recommended levels. When it comes to physical activity, there is good evidence that the benefits far outweigh the risks and being inactive is especially detrimental to health."

SOURCE: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, news release, Aug. 10, 2011