Physical activity and/or physical exercise can bring health benefits in patients living with osteoarthritis by preventing cartilage degeneration, inhibiting inflammation, and by improving pain, stiffness joint dysfunction and muscle weakness.

Yap, Z., Summers, S., Grant, A., Moseley, G., & Karran, E. (2021). The role of the social determinants of health in outcomes of surgery for low back pain. A systematic review and narrative synthesis. The Spine Journal. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2021.11.013

According the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), behavior change happens over a five-stage process linked to readiness to change. Understanding what motivates patient to change is another key element to behavior change. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) suggests that motivation exists on a continuum going from amotivation (a reduction in the motivation to initiate or persist in behavior change), to extrinsic motivation, to intrinsic motivation.