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Dr. Ruderman shares the connection between arthritis and being overweight.
Dr. Ruderman:
There are certain pieces to that. We think that women who are heavier are more prone to osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis in the knees and the hips, which is a degenerative process, is increased in patients who are heavier and it makes a certain amount of sense. The weight puts more stress on the joint, makes more likely that those joints will breakdown and wear out overtime.
Even certain types of inflammatory arthritis may be more common in women who are heavier but it’s particularly the women with degenerative arthritis where we think that impacts. We believe, though we do not have great evidence to prove it, but we believe that losing weight may actually improve the symptoms and improve the outcomes in women who have degenerative arthritis. It certainly makes sense to do so for a lot of other reasons and if it does help the arthritis as well that would be an added benefit.
About Dr. Ruderman, M.D.:
Dr. Eric M. Ruderman, M.D., is associate professor in the division of rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a board member of the Arthritis Foundation of Greater Chicago.
Dr. Ruderman graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, New York. He completed his residence at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his fellowship training in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.