EULAR updates exercise guidance
- European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology updated its exercise guidance for people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis, putting physical activity promotion into routine care. - The 2025 update adds 11 recommendations and four overarching principles, reflecting evidence published since 2018 and newer World Health Organization advice on sedentary time. - The revision folds in digital and behavior-change tools alongside exercise advice. (ard.eular.org)
Arthritis care guidelines in Europe now tell clinicians to treat physical activity as standard care for inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis. (ard.eular.org) (medicalxpress.com) The European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology published the 2025 update in *Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases* on April 25, 2026, revising guidance first issued in 2018. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) (ard.eular.org) The update was prompted by two changes: the World Health Organization issued new 2020 guidance on physical activity and sedentary behavior, and researchers published newer intervention studies in arthritis patients. (ard.eular.org) (medicalxpress.com) Inflammatory arthritis includes diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis, where the immune system drives joint inflammation. Osteoarthritis is different: it is a degenerative joint disease marked by cartilage breakdown, pain and stiffness. (ard.eular.org) (who.int) The basic message did not flip from the 2018 version: people with these conditions should still be physically active, with exercise adapted to symptoms, function and comorbidities rather than avoided. (ard.eular.org) (medpagetoday.com) What changed is the framework around that advice. The updated document adds four overarching principles and 11 recommendations, including attention to sedentary behavior, physical-activity measurement, and strategies that help people stick with activity plans. (ard.eular.org) (verahealth.ai) The review team also considered newer studies using technology, such as digital support and combined education-and-behavior interventions, not just supervised exercise sessions. (ard.eular.org) (medicalxpress.com) That matters in routine practice because many arthritis patients spend long periods sitting even when pain is controlled, and the new guidance aligns rheumatology care with broader public-health advice to move more and sit less. (who.int) (ard.eular.org) The paper’s lead author is Anne-Kathrin Rausch Osthoff of Zurich University of Applied Sciences, working with an international author group spanning Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and other countries. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The update does not replace drug treatment for inflammatory disease or other arthritis care. It tells clinicians to build movement, strength and aerobic activity into the plan instead of treating exercise as an optional add-on. (medpagetoday.com) (medicalxpress.com) The new guidance leaves rheumatology with a simple instruction: don’t wait for perfect joints before starting activity, and don’t let sedentary time become the default. (ard.eular.org) (medicalxpress.com)
