| Description |
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slow progressing degenerative joint disease affecting approximately 10% of the United States population. The incidence of OA increases with age due to the continual loading of the knee joint throughout life and is one of the main causes of chronic pain and disability in the aging population. As the elderly population continues to grow rapidly, the financial burden of this musculoskeletal disorder also increases, and with the prevalence of OA estimated to increase by 57% by the year 2020, the economic and health impact will also grow significantly. Knee OA is a high risk factor for falls in the older population. Optimal neuromuscular function is critical in order to prevent the further development and/or progression of this degenerative disease. Further, joint positioning and control are pertinent to coordination of maneuvers during functional activities and reducing the risk of falls. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of a 12-week home exercise intervention program on joint position sense in patients with knee OA. Five radiographically diagnosed knee OA patients were recruited to participate in the study (1 male, 4 female; age 63.20 ± 8.93 years; mass 71.40 ± 11.76 kg; height 164.85 ± 4.25 cm). Pre-testing included bilateral testing of each participant's knee joint position sense using a Biodex Isokinetic Dynamometer. Participants then completed a 12-week home exercise intervention program. Post-testing was identical to pre-testing and occurred at the end of the 12-week intervention. Healthy control participants (without any lower extremity OA, injury, surgery, or other complication) also completed pre-testing. It was anticipated that knee joint position sense would significantly improve in knee OA patients after the 12-week home exercise intervention iii program and healthy control participants would show greater joint position sense measures than knee OA patients during pre-testing with an age-related decrease in knee joint position sense observed among the healthy control participants. There was no statistically significant difference between pre-test data and post-test data for either the affected or unaffected knees of knee OA patients, no statistically significant difference between knee OA patients and healthy control subjects on pre-test data for either affected or unaffected knees, and no statistically significant difference between the different age categories (p>0.05). The preliminary findings in our study are currently inconclusive towards how a home exercise intervention program affects knee joint position sense in patients with knee OA. Future continuations of this study accounting for the limitations will be conducted to more accurately determine the effects of a home exercise intervention program on the knee joint position sense of knee OA patients. |
