Evidence synthesis of types and intensity of therapeutic land-based exercises to reduce pain in individuals with knee osteoarthritis

The objective of this study is to construct an evidence synthesis to identify the types of land-based exercises most investigated in the current literature, the intervention duration, frequency of the programs and the exercises which are most frequently implemented. A search was performed on the reference list of included and excluded studies of one systematic review, on land-based exercises for knee osteoarthritis and, an updated search of The Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL and PEDro was completed. Two authors independently selected the studies and a third author was consulted for an additional opinion. The inclusion criteria were male or female with tibiofemoral knee osteoarthritis, land-based exercises, non-exercise control group and randomized clinical trials. The exclusion criteria were mixed diagnosis or comparison to other types of exercise. The data were extracted by two authors. Fifty-five full-text articles were included. Strengthening, proprioception and aerobic exercises resulted in significant pain reduction. The intervention durations which were significant for pain reduction were either the period of 8 –11 weeks or 12–15 weeks. The frequency of three times per week was found significant in comparison to a non-exercise control group. The results, which formed an evidence synthesis, demonstrate that there is substantial evidence regarding the benefits of strengthening exercises to reduce pain i n knee osteoarthritis patients. Based on the included studies ...
Source: Rheumatology International - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research