Several individual RCTs demonstrated clinical ly important improvements in pain and disability with aerobic exercise .
Other PT interventions demonstrated no sustained benefit .
Individual RCTs showed similar benefits with aerobic , aquatic , and strengthening exercise .
Adverse events were uncommon and did not deter participants from continuing treatment .
Low-strength evidence suggested that only a few PT interventions were effective .
BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability .
Nonsurgical treatment is a key first step .
PURPOSE Systematic literature review of physical therapy ( PT ) interventions for community-dwelling adults with knee osteoarthritis .
A 1-year follow-up of an experimental study of a self-management arthritis programme with an added exercise component of clients with osteoarthritis of the knee
The aim was to assess the self-efficacy and health outcomes of an adopted Arthritis Self-Management Programme ( ASMP ) among osteoarthritic knee sufferers in Hong Kong at 1 year . An experimental study with 95 participants assigned r and omly to the intervention ( n=45 ) or control group ( n=50 ) . Seventy-seven ( 81.1 % ) participants joined at least one out of three follow-ups in the 12 month period . Participants in the intervention group received a 6-week ASMP with an added exercise component in two general clinics . Outcome measures included arthritis self-efficacy ( ASE ) and health outcomes including pain and fatigue rating , self-rated health , daily activities limitation and number of unplanned arthritis-related medical consultations . Mean change ( 12 months minus baseline ) and the effect size of the outcome measures were calculated by Mann – Whitney U test and nQuery Advisor 4.0 . At 12 months , there were significant reductions of current pain ( p=0.0001 ) , pain at night ( p=0.001 ) , pain during walking ( p=0.01 ) and number of unplanned arthritis-related medical consultations ( p=0.03 ) and a significant increase in ASE for pain ( p=0.01 ) and other symptoms ( p=0.02 ) and self-rated health ( p=0.04 ) among the intervention group but not for the control group . However , there were similarities in outcome measures of pain while switching from a sitting to a st and ing position , fatigue rating and physical functional limitation ( p=0.15 ; p=0.22 and p=0.91 , respectively ) for both groups . Our findings add to the evidence that the modified arthritis empowering programme improved perception of control of osteoarthritis and three health outcomes after 12 months of treatment
Several individual RCTs demonstrated clinical ly important improvements in pain and disability with aerobic exercise .
Other PT interventions demonstrated no sustained benefit .
Individual RCTs showed similar benefits with aerobic , aquatic , and strengthening exercise .
Adverse events were uncommon and did not deter participants from continuing treatment .
Low-strength evidence suggested that only a few PT interventions were effective .
BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability .
Nonsurgical treatment is a key first step .
PURPOSE Systematic literature review of physical therapy ( PT ) interventions for community-dwelling adults with knee osteoarthritis .