You may find yourself limiting your activities due to fatigue if you have osteoarthritis.
Studies have shown fatigue to be common among people with osteoarthritis and a factor in their quality of life.
Guarding includes bracing, limping, and stiffening.
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Pacing refers to breaking up activity time by alternating activity and rest periods.
People who used pacing often did it because they were having symptoms rather than planning to pace their activities.
Task persistence means that a person continued with the activity despite feeling symptoms.
The researchers found the subjects had notable amounts of fatigue, which substantially impacted their lives.
Fatigue was described by study participants as exhaustion, being tired, and coming up against a brick wall.
Participants generally viewed fatigue as different from sleepiness, and they drew a distinction between physical and mental fatigue.
Their mean fatigue score was 30.9 on a scale of 52.
Interestingly, study participants revealed that they did not discuss their fatigue with anyone other than their spouse.
Overall, it’s clear that osteoarthritis is not exempt from the effects of fatigue.
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