“Bone on bone” doesn’t mean you have to stop

If you have been told your knee is “bone on bone”, it can sound as though exercise is no longer for you, but that isn’t the case. The UK’s osteoarthritis guideline recommends exercise for everyone with osteoarthritis, not just some people. The aim is to strengthen the muscles around the joint and build your general fitness.

It may ache more at the start, but the benefits grow the longer you keep going.

It also helps to know that a scan showing wear doesn’t necessarily explain your pain. In a large review of spine scans in people with no pain at all, 37 in 100 twenty-year-olds already showed disc wear, and by the age of 80 it was 96 in 100. So please don’t let a scan report scare you out of moving. Your doctor reads your scan alongside everything else.

Before you decide on your next step, make sure exercise has been tried properly, and talk it through with an exercise physiologist or your doctor.