Osteoarthritis: What It Is and What Helps
What is it?
If you’ve started noticing stiffness or pain in your knees, hips, hands or feet and you’re not yet 60, it can feel confusing. Osteoarthritis carries a reputation as something that only happens later in life, but it doesn’t work that way. It becomes more common with age, yes, but plenty of women develop it in their 40s, sometimes earlier, especially after a joint injury. Joint pain has a lot of possible causes, so a GP is the right person to confirm what’s actually going on before you assume it’s this. If this is you, you’re not imagining it.
Around 1 in 10 women in Australia live with osteoarthritis, compared to roughly 1 in 16 men. It’s the most common joint condition there is, and it shows up most often in the knees, hips, spine, hands and feet.
What's actually happening in the joint?
Cartilage is what lets your joints move smoothly, cushioning the bones so they glide against each other rather than grinding. When that cartilage starts to break down, the joint can become inflamed, small bony spurs can form at the edges, and the tendons and ligaments around it can weaken. That’s where the pain, swelling and stiffness are coming from, not something you’re doing wrong, just the joint changing.
What does it feel like?
For many women, it starts as stiffness first thing in the morning or after sitting for a while, easing once you get moving. You might notice pain, some swelling, a joint that feels less steady than it used to, or a smaller range of movement than before. Some women notice sounds within the joint itself. You could have all of this, some of it, or barely any. For a lot of women, it stays mild and doesn’t change much from one day to the next.
Why does this happen more to women?
Being female is itself a risk factor for osteoarthritis. Hormones are part of the reason why, estrogen plays a role in keeping joint cartilage healthy, and a decline in estrogen, whether through menopause or other causes such as cancer treatment, is linked to higher osteoarthritis risk. A previous joint injury, age, genetics and carrying extra weight all play a part too. Repetitive movement adds to the risk as well, and that includes work that involves heavy lifting, kneeling, climbing or squatting, as much as it does years of picking up, carrying and chasing after children.
Does exercise help or make it worse?
It’s a fair thing to wonder, moving a joint that already hurts doesn’t always feel like the right instinct. The muscles around your joints are part of what supports them though, and keeping those muscles strong takes some of the load off the joint itself. Strength training, gentle stretching, and lower impact movement like swimming or cycling all have good evidence behind them. What tends to work best is starting with whatever feels manageable and building from there, rather than pushing hard early on. A bit of discomfort while you move is common and isn’t a reason to stop. Pain that feels unusual for you, or clearly worse than your normal, is different, and worth getting checked rather than pushing through.
Weight also plays a part here, since extra load on a joint that’s already struggling makes movement harder. That’s a genuinely difficult position to be in, when the thing that would help is also the thing that hurts. Whatever movement is actually possible for you right now still helps your joints, even while that difficulty is there.
What if I need more than exercise?
Exercise helps a lot of women manage osteoarthritis well, but it isn’t always enough on its own. If you’re still in pain despite staying active, that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong, it usually means your joints need a bit more support alongside movement. This might come as pain relief, a joint injection, or a brace to take pressure off a specific joint while you keep moving. For a small number of women, when a joint has reached the point where nothing else is easing things, joint replacement surgery becomes worth discussing. Your GP can talk through what fits your joints and where you’re at.
Where to go from here
A GP is a good place to start, and depending on what suits you, an exercise physiologist, physiotherapist or osteopath can help build a plan around your joints and your life. Arthritis Australia Living with arthritis – Arthritis Australia is also a good place to go for more detailed information and support.
REFERENCES
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Osteoarthritis: Chronic musculoskeletal conditions.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023). Chronic musculoskeletal conditions: All arthritis.
Arthritis Australia. Fast facts on osteoarthritis.
Wright, V.J., Schwartzman, J.D., Itinoche, R., & Wittstein, J. (2024). The musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause. Climacteric, 27(5), 466-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/13697137.2024.2380363
Developed by the WHEN Clinical Team
Clinically reviewed by the WHEN Clinical Governance Committee
Last reviewed: 19/07/2026
With clinical input from Dr Rhea Psereckis, FRACGP, FAFPHM, Public Health Physician and General Practitioner, Master of Applied Epidemiology scholar.
With clinical input from Peta Titter, RN, Grad Cert Continence Nursing, Advanced Diploma of Pilates. Honours by Research (diastasis recti). PhD candidate, University of Tasmania. Founder and CEO, WHEN.
