Feb 23, 2026
3 min read
An open RMD study shows that exercise has only small, short-term effects on osteoarthritis pain and relief of other symptoms, compared to other therapies.
There is currently no cure for osteoarthritis, and low-impact exercise is a popular treatment to manage the symptoms of the disease.
- New research questions the effectiveness of exercise in relieving osteoarthritis symptoms.
- The scientists believe that their findings help remind doctors that other treatments are available to relieve symptoms and that continued exercise therapy may be necessary.
According to a recent study, it is estimated that approximately 595 million people worldwide suffer from arthritis in 2020.Arthritis is a type of arthritis that occurs when the cartilage between joints in the body wears away, causing pain, stiffness, inflammation, and limited range of motion.
Osteoarthritis can occur in any joint in the body, including the fingers, toes, knees, hips, and spine.Because of the pain and lack of movement associated with osteoarthritis, even though the condition is in the joints, it can have a major impact on surrounding areas of the body, including pain and discomfort, pinched nerves, mild swelling, and weak muscles and tendons.
Currently, there is no cure for osteoarthritis.Treatment generally includes oral medications.
"Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of chronic joint pain and contributes to high healthcare utilization," Tim Schleimer, PhD candidate in the Department of Pediatrics, Midwifery and Therapeutic Sciences at Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Germany, told Medical News Today.
Schleimer is the first author of a new study published in the journal RMD Open that questions the effectiveness of exercise in relieving osteoarthritis symptoms.
The scientists hope their findings will help remind doctors that there are other treatment options for symptom relief for people with arthritis who can't or don't want to exercise.Although the symptomatic benefits of exercise are small, physical activity provides positive effects on a person's overall health.
"The social and economic impact [of osteoarthritis] is high and growing, so the prevalence is expected to catch up."
1 billion people by 2050. In the absence of approved disease-modifying therapies, treatment remains focused on symptoms.This is why effective strategies to relieve symptoms are a clinical and public health priority.
— Tim Schlimer, BSc, MSc
For this study,The researchers studied the knee,rear end,handWe analyzed data from 28 studies published up to November 2025 that studied the effects of exercise therapy on adults with knee osteoarthritis of the shoulder or ankle joints and identified the primary study outcome as self-reported pain and/or physical activity.
"Exercise is universally recommended as the first line of treatment for osteoarthritis. So it's the single most important form of conservative treatment," says Schlemmer. "However, the evidence surrounding it is scattered. Most trials have evaluated one joint versus another and use different outcome levels or indicators."
"As a result, clinicians lack a clear overview of: the magnitude of benefits in commonly interpretable measures; how long these benefits last; whether the effects vary by joint; and how exercise compares to other treatments," he continued.
“Our goal is to correlate the available joint, time and comparison data and express the effects in metrics that can be clinically interpreted,” he said.
At the conclusion of the study, the researchers found that exercise was associated with only small, short-term effects on knee osteoarthritis pain, little or no difference for hip osteoarthritis, and fewer effects on hand osteoarthritis compared to no treatment.
"These results require a more realistic perspective: the symptom relief provided by exercise appears small and likely not long-lasting, suggesting that chronic exercise may be necessary at least to maintain these modest benefits."
- Tim Schlimer, BSc, MSc
The results are similar to other treatments
The study also found that exercise therapy produced similar results to other therapeutic options - patient education, manual therapy, knee surgery, and the use of pain relievers, steroids, or injections.
"These findings—primarily related to osteoarthritis of the knee—show that treatment options other than exercise may provide similar symptom relief, which may call into question its strong promotion as a universal first-line standard," Schleimer said.
"For patients unable to exercise – for example due to inconvenience, time constraints or obstacles – alternative conservative treatments may offer comparable benefits. But considering the potential risk, costs and wider health benefits, exercise is still preferable before pharmacological or surgical interventions," he explains.
Exercise is not the only treatment for osteoarthritis “The benefits of exercise for pain and function may be small, but it can be a low-cost, low-risk treatment that can be done long-term and can have a positive effect on overall health.
—Tim Schlimer, dipl.ing., mag
MNT spoke about this study with Nora Tossounian, MD, an internist at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, who commented that her initial reaction to its findings was one of caution, not dismissal.
"Exercise has become an important part of doctor's advice for arthritis patients, especially because of the additional cardiovascular benefits," Tosounian said.
Exercise 'not futile' "This study doesn't mean exercise is futile, but it rightly questions a holistic view. It's an important reminder that treatment planning needs to be more nuanced, including setting realistic expectations with patients and integrating exercise as part of a broader individualized treatment plan."
— Nora Tossounian, M.D
Tssounian also said that osteoarthritis is the main cause of disability that greatly reduces the quality of life. And because there is no treatment, symptom control is therefore the main goal.
"Due to the high burden of the individual and the nature of the chronic or untreated disease, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of this disease," he said.
“More studies (especially prospective ones) need to be conducted to further elaborate the conclusions reached in this study. With more personalized medicine, hopefully, each and every patient who suffers from arthritis can achieve their goals through a customized approach,” she added.
MNT also spoke with Bert Mandelbaum, MD, a sports medicine specialist, orthopedic surgeon and co-director of the Regenerative Orthobiology Center at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles, CA, who disagreed with the study's findings.
"How can you say that exercise does not help osteoarthritis?" Mandelbaum said, "Exercise is the most important thing for people with osteoarthritis because it increases our function, our muscles, our heart strength, lowers lipoproteins and cholesterol."
"If you look at all the studies done on 99-year-olds with the lowest levels of health and disability, it's (this is hard to decipher) to say that exercise helps someone in a wheelchair. I'm not sure you can show that, I think they're getting there. But if you exercise on a 100- to 40-year-old with osteoarthritis, a 100- to 40-year-old with osteoarthritis has a significant improvement in lifestyle, function and longevity."has everything to do with it," he told MNT.
Mandelbaum suggested that researchers create a study to examine the duration of different types of exercise.
"Is this resistance training?" He continued: "Is it endurance exercise? Is it a high-intensity exercise? Each of which has been proven in the literature to have different effects on joint function. So if I review that article, I ask you to classify what you call exercise. It's like saying the same drug in seven different doses."
For readers who may be suffering from or have loved ones with osteoarthritis, we asked Tussonians what is the best way to treat and control the symptoms of the disease.
She said the focus should not be on abandoning the business, but on creating a comprehensive management plan, with key strategies including:
- Weight management to reduce stress on the joints - every kilo of weight lost translates into more kilos of strength under the joints.
- To maintain mobility without pain during low-impact activities such as swimming, stationary biking, or walking.
- Physical therapy for exercise and movement training.
- Medical treatment if necessary, from drugs and injections to joint replacement surgery in severe cases.
"The benefits of exercise compared to these other treatments depend on the severity of the arthritis and the extent to which the level of pain affects the patient's ability to perform activities of daily living," Tosonen said.
