Effect of Sling Suspension Exercises in Proprioception of Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis
Condition: Osteoarthritis
MeSH terms: Osteoarthritis
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Therapeutic exercise is important to patients with knee osteoarthritis. Few studies reported
      the effect of therapeutic exercise in proprioception for these patients. The purposes of this
      study were to investigate the training effect of sling suspension exercises, as a
      proprioception-training tool, for patients with knee osteoarthritis and further, to build up
      an model of proprioception training.
    

Detailed description: 
      Therapeutic exercise is important to patients with knee osteoarthritis. Few studies reported
      the effect of therapeutic exercise in proprioception for these patients. The purposes of this
      study were to investigate the train-ing effect of sling suspension exercises, as a
      proprioception-training tool, for patients with knee osteoarthritis and further, to build up
      an model of proprioception training. Twelve subjects were recruited in this study. The
      inclusion criteria were aged 50 to 70, both genders, diagnosed as knee osteoarthritis,
      grading 2 or 3 in Kellgren's scale. After having their consents all subjects received
      baseline measurements including active joint reposition test, functional ambulating test and
      self-evaluating with Western Ontario & McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC). Then
      they were randomly assigned to training group and reference group. Seven subjects in the
      training group received the treatment of heat, interferential current (IFC), and sling
      suspension exercises or just only sling suspension exercises. Five subjects in the reference
      group received the treatment of heat and IFC or no intervention. The training sessions of
      sling suspension exercises were 3 times per week, lasting for8 weeks. After 8-week training,
      both groups were given post-test which is completely the same as pre-test. Mann-Whitney U
      Test was used to test the difference between groups, and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used
      to test pre-post difference in both groups. The results showed it was no difference between
      both groups in all the measurements of pre-test. After 8 weeks, it showed significant
      difference on joint reposi-tion test (p<.05) but no difference on functional ambulating test
      and WOMAC index (p>.05) between the 2 groups. In the training group, all mea-surements got
      significant improvement (p<.05) except one of the functional ambulating tests. However, the
      reference group only showed significant improvement in pain and physical function subscales
      of WOMAC (p<.05). This study concludes that the sling suspension exercises designed for
      patients with knee osteoarthritis improve the proprioception of knee joint. The con-tent and
      concept of sling suspension exercises in this study might be a refer-ence of proprioception
      training for patients with knee osteoarthritis. Increasing case number and elongating the
      duration of intervention are suggested in further studies.
    

Intervention name(s): sling suspension exercises
Intervention type(s): Device
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Educational/Counseling/Training