Alma's story - weight loss study

Alma Armstrong’s weight loss helped reduce her painful knees, as she explains.

When Alma Armstrong volunteered to take part in Arthritis Research UK’s ambitious clinical trial to reduce knee pain in the overweight by diet and/or exercise she weighed in at almost 17 stone. Always a big woman who enjoyed her food, she had piled on the pounds after giving birth to her second child and never really lost it.

Unsurprisingly, her knees were causing pain to the point where she could no longer sleep through the night.  So when Alma, aged 77, was randomised to the diet arm of the trial, she was more than happy.

Those on the dietary arm of the trial were encouraged to eat a low fat diet reducing calorie intake by about 500 calories a day, with the aim of losing weight slowly – and maintaining the loss. 

Participants were visited every month for the first six months, and then every other month by a dietitian.

“I realised I was carrying too much weight and I was very sedentary, especially in the winter time, and it was not helping my knees,” says Alma.

She embarked on her diet of skimmed milk, low-fat margarine, no sweets, and no chocolate, with enthusiasm. By the time she finished the trial in May 2005 she had lost almost three stone and felt considerably better for it.

“I started swimming three times a week and became a lot stronger,” she adds.

“And it took a long time but eventually I realised I wasn’t waking up in the night rubbing my knees – I could sleep all night.”

At the end of the trial Alma didn’t go back to full cream milk or hard fats and still eats a reasonably low fat diet although she admits that some of her weight has crept back on. She has also maintained her swimming regime.

“The trial has made me more aware of the importance of keeping my weight down and doing exercises,” she says. “I’m very pleased that I was involved. I recently moved house, and I wouldn’t have been able to go up and down the stairs so often without the help of the trial. The best thing, though, is being able to sleep all night without waking up!

Arthritis Research UK’s clinical trial in Nottingham to examine the effects of weight loss and exercise on knee pain has shown that both can be helpful, although those people in the combined exercise and weight loss groups did best.

Alma’s story first appeared in Arthritis Today in 2008