People with sore joints who exercise for two hours a week have less pain, visit their GP less and take less sick leave, a study has found.
The findings are from an analysis of how 40,000 people in Greater Manchester with hip, back or knee pain fared when they did two one-hour exercise classes for 12 weeks.
The impact on their lives was so great that it has led to calls for the NHS to make physical activity a standard part of treatment for the millions struggling with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.
If the 3.7 million Britons with sore joints but without a care plan exercised for two hours a week then they, their families, the NHS and the UK economy would benefit by as much as £34bn, researchers say.
Nuffield Health, Frontier Economics and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) analysed the structured exercise programme that the private gym group has offered free of charge to more than 40,000 joint pain sufferers in the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester.
They did two one-hour classes a week in a Nuffield gym, led by a rehabilitation specialist, and did exercises to boost their mobility, stability, strength and cardiovascular health.
People who took part saw the following benefits:
Had on average 35% less pain.
Went to see their GP 29% less often.
Took almost half as many sick days from work.
Needed their family to look after them 21% less.
“Tailored, structured exercise is one of the most effective treatments for people with long-term conditions. If movement were a pill, it would be the most powerful drug on the planet, yet it remains under-prescribed.
“Integrating it as a treatment into mainstream healthcare would transform lives on a scale no drug could”, said Dr Davina Deniszczyc, Nuffield Health’s charity and medical director.
The analysis found that if 184,000 of the 334,000 MSK patients in Greater Manchester took up Nuffield’s offer of free exercise, that would deliver £1.7bn of “social value”.
Expand this to cover the whole and that figure would rise to £34bn, the researchers said. That would be made up of £18bn of benefits of improved health, £13bn of benefits to relatives and carers, a £3bn boost to the economy and £230m in direct savings for the NHS.
For example, participants’ health-related quality of life rose by 13%, which was calculated to be worth £6,680 in financial terms. Similarly, their drop in sick days was estimated to be worth £501 while the 10% increase in their family’s life satisfaction was valued at £4,765.
Nick Woolley, a manager at Frontier Economics, said at the start of Nuffield’s joint pain programme, one in four of those who attended the classes could not work and by then end of the 12 weeks, almost one in 10 were fit enough to return to work.
Prof Tim Cable, the director of MMU’s institute of sport, said the research showed “the transformative role of movement” in alleviating pain among the 25 million Britons with one or more long-term health conditions and are “a blueprint” for a nationwide programme of NHS-provided exercise.
The NHS should “include structured exercise programmes in best practice guidance” and encourage hospitals and GP practices to refer eligible patients to them, the analysis said.
However, the chief executive of the charity Versus Arthritis, Deborah Alsina, said that while exercise improved quality of life for people with the condition, it was not the “solve-all” the analysis suggests; they could have trouble fitting exercise into their lives and often experienced “challenges in accessing effective treatment and support from the NHS, long delays to secure a diagnosis and lack of treatment options”, she said.
A six-week pain reduction programme of education, exercise and self-management run by some NHS trusts in England, called Escape Pain, which 15,000 people have used, has been found to improve quality of life for people with arthritis and also save the NHS time and money.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We know that living with chronic pain can have a significant impact on quality of life. We will transform the NHS by shifting care from sickness to prevention to keep people healthy and independent for longer through our 10-year health plan.
“We will also harness the power of technology which can help keep people active. This includes ensuring all patients with chronic pain have access to wearable technology as part of their care, especially in areas of deprivation.”
