Rethink Health

Reimagining the osteoarthritis journey

Osteoarthritis affects more than 500 million people worldwide, yet the support people receive often focuses on managing symptoms rather than understanding the experience of pain itself. Many people are told to “just live with it,” leaving them feeling discouraged, disconnected, and unsure of what to do next.

Rethink Osteoarthritis was created to change that.

Our Story

Rethink OA began at Stanford University, where a team of researchers, clinicians, and psychologists came together with one goal:

Rethink how we support people living with osteoarthritis through evidence-based education and mindset tools.

Traditional OA care focuses heavily on medications, injections, and surgery. However, research in pain science demonstrates that how we interpret pain profoundly influences how we move, engage in life, and experience healing.

In our clinical research at Stanford, we found something powerful:

When people learn to reinterpret their pain, their confidence increases, their movement changes, and their lives open back up. 

This insight led to the development of a digital mindset program—later published in Nature Digital Medicine—that increased physical activity, improved well-being, reduced fear of movement, and helped people re-engage with their daily lives.

The program was simple, accessible, and deeply human. And it worked.

After seeing participants regain mobility, return to activities they thought they had lost, and feel hopeful again, Melissa Boswell, PhD, set out to bring it to the world as Rethink Osteoarthritis.

Today, Rethink OA is an evidence-based digital program rooted in science and shaped by the lived experiences of real people. It’s built to meet you exactly where you are—physically, emotionally, and mentally—and help you move toward what matters most.

Our Mission

To empower people with osteoarthritis through mindset-based tools that help them regain control of their lives and their osteoarthritis journey—transforming how they think, move, and live.