New developments in osteoarthritis. Prevention of injury-related knee osteoarthritis: Opportunities for the primary and secondary prevention of knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Where risk factors have been identified, such as in knee and hip OA, with few exceptions, no prevention strategies are well substantiated enough or have proven benefit to justify widespread dissemination. The major risk factors for knee OA are advanced age, injury and obesity 1. However, there is limited or no evidence that they are modifiable or to what degree modifying them is effective or what this would cost in primary prevention (avoiding development of knee OA) or secondary prevention (detecting knee OA early to treat to prevent symptoms and progressive disease).The notable exception is the growing epidemic of (sports) injury related knee OA. The purpose of this review is to detail the biological and clinical data that make this subset of OA an attractive public health target. © 2010 BioMed Central Ltd.