DON'T CROSS THE INACTIVE

Keep crossing the street

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Many people with osteoarthritis of the knee can't walk fast enough to cross the street before the light turns.

At Northwestern University in Chicago, Dorothy Dunlop examined data on walking speed in more than 2,500 people with knee osteoarthritis. She says more than half of the least active could not walk fast enough to cross a street safely.

Dunlop also says more active people were more likely to move fast enough to be safe:

``People who were more active maintained good function one year later. In other words, they were able to maintain their faster walking speeds.'' (8 seconds)

She says it's a good reason to be active.

The study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.