40% of adults with arthritis still do not receive health care provider counseling for exercise

The American College of Rheumatology’s osteoarthritis management guidelines recommend exercise as a first-line, nonpharmacologic strategy to manage arthritis symptoms. An estimated 54 million adults in the United States are affected by arthritis.

The prevalence of receiving health care provider counseling for exercise among adults with arthritis increased 17.6% from 51.9% in 2002 to 61.0% in 2014. However, nearly 40% of adults with arthritis still do not receive health care provider counseling for exercise. In addition, subgroups including non-Hispanic persons of other races, underweight/normal weight persons, current smokers, inactive persons, and persons without a primary health care provider, are still below the Healthy People 2020 target of 57.4%.