Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Osteoarthritis(OA) is a chronic, degenerative joint disease that most commonly affects women over the age of 65. Individuals with OA suffer from pain and inflammation in the affected joint(s), which leads to decreased mobility. OA is exacerbated by obesity, aging, smoking and injury, all of which increase inflammation. We hypothesize that elevated inflammation in individuals with knee OA activates their immune cells and leads to increased disease severity (i.e. pain and limited mobility). Furthermore, we believe exercise will improve patient outcomes by decreasing inflammation. We measured inflammation and immune cell activation in the blood of 30 post-menopausal women with knee OA. These women were split into 3, 12-week interventions: yoga, strength training and meditation. Women with knee OA had higher levels of inflammation compared to healthy, age-matched women without OA. Their immune cells also showed increased markers of activation. Both strength training and meditation interventions lead to decreased immune cell activation. Future work will focus on how these changes were mediated by the respective interventions.