Effects of hydrotherapy and land-based exercise on mobility and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized control trial

Comparison of Kinesio-Tapping and Endurance Training in Improving Quality of Life in Knee Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most debilitating condition more commonly effecting the knee of its sufferers. Objective: To compare the effects of Kinesio Tape and endurance training in improving the quality of life of knee OA. Methods: This was a single blinded randomized control trail (RCT) in which 30 participants were included between age of 40-70 years who had OA of grade II-IV (K & L grade) and had no serious comorbidity. Simple convenient sampling technique was used for recruitment of participants. Two equal groups were made (n=15 each). Group A participants was incorporated endurance training at a rate of 2x/week for 4 weeks by use of therapeutic band along with conventional therapy and group B was given Kinesio-tape 2 session/ week for 4 weeks in combination with conventional therapy. Data were collected at baseline and after 4 weeks of intervention by use of NPRS and Sf-36 quality of life questionnaire. Man Whitney U test was performed for between groups analysis by use of SPSS version 21.0. Level of significance was kept p<0.05. Results: The mean age of participants in group A was 54.30 with standard deviation (SD) of 5.61 whereas of group B Mean ± SD of age was 53.45±7.73. There was no significant difference between groups as p>0.05. Conclusions: It was concluded from this study that both techniques are equally effective in improving the quality of life in knee osteoarthritis sufferers.

Efficacy and safety of aquatic exercise in knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVE

To examine the efficacy and safety of aquatic exercise for people with knee osteoarthritis.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CENTRAL, CNKI and WanFang databases were searched from 1966 to September 2022.

REVIEW METHODS

Randomized controlled trials evaluating aquatic exercise for people with knee osteoarthritis compared with no exercise and land-based exercise were included. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence.

RESULTS

Twenty-two studies with 1394 participants were included. Compared with no exercise (13 trials with 746 participants), low-to high-certainty evidence revealed that aquatic exercise yielded significant improvements in patient-reported pain (SMD -0.58, 95% CI -0.82 to -0.33), stiffness (SMD -0.57, 95% CI -1.03 to -0.11) and physical function (SMD -0.35, 95% CI -0.52 to -0.18) immediately postintervention. A sustained effect was observed only for pain at three months postintervention (SMD -0.48, 95% CI -0.91 to -0.06). The confidence intervals demonstrated that the pooled results do not exclude the minimal clinically important differences. There were no significant differences between the effects of aquatic exercise and land-based exercise (13 trials with 648 participants) on pain (SMD -0.12, 95% CI -0.29 to 0.04), stiffness (SMD -0.17, 95% CI -0.49 to 0.16) or physical function (SMD -0.13, 95% CI -0.28 to 0.02). No study reported a serious adverse event in relation to aquatic exercise.

CONCLUSION

Aquatic exercise provides a short-term clinical benefit that is sustained for at least three months postintervention in terms of pain in people with knee osteoarthritis.

The efficacy and safety of hydrotherapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common clinical degenerative disease of the joints, which is prone to occur in middle-aged and elderly people. At present, the disease cannot be cured, it is mostly treated with drugs to relieve symptoms, improve joint function, protect cartilage, such as glucosamine, anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, and but the efficacy is not lasting and the recurrence rate is high. Hydrotherapy has become a long-term alternative therapy in China and is receiving increasing attention. We perform a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the efficacy and safety of a hydrotherapy program in individuals living with knee OA.

METHODS

This protocol will be designed in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis protocols. It is registered on the international prospective register of systematic reviews (No. CRD42022365564). We will search the following databases: The Cochrane Skin Group Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane central register of controlled trials, Chinese biomedical literature database, Chinese medical current content and China national knowledge infrastructure. The risk of bias of the included studies will be appraised using the Cochrane collaboration tool. Statistical analysis will be performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Armonk, NY).

RESULTS

This systematic review will summarize the short- and long-term clinical outcomes of hydrotherapy for knee OA.

CONCLUSION

The findings from this review will establish the quality of currently available evidence, which will determine the need for further studies to establish the true effect size of hydrotherapy in knee OA.

Aquatic physiotherapy in the functional capacity of elderly with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract Introduction: Physicaltherapy in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) acts to decrease pain, increase joint functionality and to promote improvement in quality of life. Objective: To analyze the effect of a structured program of aquatic physiotherapy (AP) on functional capacity (FC) and mobility of elderly people with OA. Methods: Prospective, quantitative and analytical, randomized control study. The sample consisted of 29 patients, aged 60 years or over, diagnosed with OA, randomly allocated to the intervention group (IG), composed of 17 participants who underwent BP for two months, and to the control group (CG) of 12 participants. The primary outcome was measured by the WOMAC instruments and six-minute walk test. As a secondary endpoint, the Timed Up and Go Test measured mobility. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to present the data, with mean and standard deviation values. The comparison between groups for potential confounding factors and in relation to evolution was performed using the non-parametric chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and the Kruskal-Wallis test, and Dunn's test for multiple comparisons. The differences were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05. Results: There was a significant difference in physical and functional parameters related to pain (p < 0.001), stiffness (p < 0.001) physical activity (p < 0.001), distance covered in six minutes (p = 0.001), and mobility (p < 0.001) when comparing IG to CG. Conclusion: The structured AP program effectively contributed to the improvement of FC and mobility of elderly people with knee OA.