Physical therapy management of knee osteoarthritis in the middle-aged athlete.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is prevalent in today's population, including the athletic and recreationally active "middle-aged" population. OA is a degenerative condition of the articular/hyaline cartilage of synovial joints and commonly affects the knee joint. In general, athletic participation does not specifically influence a higher incidence of knee OA in this population; however, traumatic injury to the knee joint poses a definitive risk in developing early-onset OA.