The biggest myth of all, not only when it comes to osteoarthritis, but pain in general. Pain is exceptionally complex, the pain process is controlled by your nervous system and your nervous system reacts to far more than just the structure of your joint. it is affected by weight gain, stress, mood, anxiety, depression, sleep, nutrition, exercise, social isolation, work, relationships, the list goes on and on. All of these things affect the amount of pain you experience and as a result, which is why there is far more to pain than tissue damage.

There are many things that can contribute to joint degeneration, but it is largely poor lifestyle choices like poor nutrition, being over weight, smoking, drinking and not exercising that speed up joint degeneration rather than actively using your joint. Consider these things before moving less.

Similarly, as with the last point, we know that joints need load in order to function properly, so off loading the joint is likely to make symptoms worse not better. If you are in pain when trying to exercise, discuss this with a qualified professional so that they can give you different suggestions about what type of exercise might be appropriate. We want to keep you as fit, healthy and active as much as possible!

A phrase that is synonymous with O.A. and even used as a diagnose in some cases. This phrase tends to paint a picture of a degenerative joint that is inevitably going to get worse and we know that your thoughts, feelings and emotions about your condition have a big impact on what happens. It is true, your joint does wear and change as you get older, but it very rarely tears. In addition, your body is an incredible structure that is constantly undergoing change and repair, including your arthritic joint. So instead of thinking 'wear & tear', why not think 'wear & repair'.

Over imaging is a huge problem when it comes to osteoarthritis management. There is video on the YouTube Channel going in to more detail about this. In the interest of keeping things short and sweet, scans correlate poorly with pain. As we age, we all have incidental/normal age related findings on scans whether we're in pain or pain free. They very rarely change the course of treatment you are likely to have and there is evidence to suggest they lead to more days of disability, more time off work and are more likely to lead to invasive interventions. In addition, osteoarthritis is one of the most common things that health care professionals see and should be able to assess and diagnose you appropriately.

There are lots of different things that we can do to improve arthritic pain that have been shown to work: things like weight loss, exercise, eating slightly better, heat, activity modification, education and advice about pain and much more. Many, many people are managing their arthritic symptoms conservatively with great success without the need for surgery. There are any number of factors that can make your symptoms better or worse, and as a result it can be tricky to manage at times. So if you do need some additional support then make sure you find yourself a really good healthcare professional who can support you with this.

A few years ago joint arthroscopies (also know as 'wash outs' or 'clean outs') were all the rage. We now have long term studies that having a joint arthroscopy actually increases your chance of getting early osteoarthritis. In many, health care services, particularly here in the U.K., we have stopped doing them. In other private health care settings however, they are still widely used (you can draw your own conclusions from that).

There is very little evidence that suggests those who run get more osteoarthritis than those who don't. In fact, studies have been done on marathon runners which found they didn't have an increased chance of getting osteoarthritis compared to the normal population. If running is uncomfortable, have a chat with a healthcare professional who may be able to give you a few suggestion to adapt your running, to keep you running.

As mentioned above, pain is exceptionally complex, which makes sense, we are more than bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons. We are complex beings with thoughts, feelings and emotions. So the notion that there is one magical supplement or pill that is going to cure your arthritis, is certainly a myth, despite all of that sexy marketing and PR that often accompanies those claims. 

There is not doubt that losing weight can help improve O.A. pain. However, it is often easier said than done and can be very difficult. The good news is regardless of weight loss, partaking in regular exercise in isolation has been found to improve O.A. symptoms.