6,000 steps a day keeps knee problems at bay

Walking 6,000 or more steps per day may protect people with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA) from developing mobility issues such as difficulty in getting up from a chair and climbing stairs, a study shows.

"Walking reduces risk of functional limitation associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA)," said Daniel White from Sargent College at Boston University in Massachusetts, US.

"We tried to find out how much daily walking is needed to minimise risk of developing problems with mobility in people with knee OA," White added.

For the study, researchers measured daily steps taken by 1,788 people with or at risk for knee OA.

Walking was measured with a monitor over seven days and functional limitation evaluated two years later.

Walking an additional 1,000 steps each was associated with between a 16 percent to 18 percent reduction in incident functional limitation two years later.

Walking less than 6,000 steps daily was the best threshold for identifying those who developed functional limitation.

"We encourage those with or at risk of knee OA to walk at least 3,000 or more steps each day, and ultimately progress to 6,000 steps daily to minimise the risk of developing difficulty with mobility," White suggested.

The study was published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.