Table 2.

Clinical findings supporting a role for exercise therapy in maintaining cartilage health.

Intervention	Duration	Subjects	Outcome	Reference
Aerobic walking and quadriceps strengthening exercise	18 months	35 subjects without knee OA	Both exercise regimen showed normal distribution of proteoglycans and reduced pain and disability from knee OA	[38]
Supervised exercise	3 times weekly for 4 months	45 subjects who underwent partial medial meniscus resection 3–5 years previously	Improved GAG content and reduced pain and joint symptoms	[4]
Cumulative physical exercise	Low (<6862) or high (>8654) exercise hours	805 subjects	Reduced risk in knee OA	[41]
Recreational walking or jogging	Low versus high levels of activity	1279 subjects, with or without knee OA; middle aged or elderly, BMI below or above median	Subjects with a high BMI had no increase in risk of OA. Overweight, middle aged, and elderly persons neither protects against nor increases risk of OA	[42]
Exercise	Various	11 randomised control trials	Beneficial effect on pain and disability	[47]