Although osteoarthritis has no cure, researchers are developing a new intervention to improve patients' chronic pain outcomes.

It may shoot through the hands while typing or flare in the knees when getting out of the car. Wherever the pain, over 32 million Americans living with osteoarthritis experience it. 

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To reduce that pain, patients living with the degenerative joint disease are often told to exercise. 

It sounds simple. 

But people with osteoarthritis may experience pain when they start to move more, which can be a deterrent to taking up, or sticking with, an exercise program. 

"Pain during movement is an important reason why this population isn't more active, and we need to identify ways we can help to change this," said Daniel Whibley, Ph.D., research assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Michigan Medicine. "Otherwise, they may end up in a loop of pain and inactivity that we know can lead to disability later down the line."