Aerobic exercises such as walking, cycling or swimming may offer the greatest benefits for people with knee osteoarthritis, according to Chinese research published in the BMJ.
Nearly 30 per cent of adults over 45 show signs of knee osteoarthritis on X-rays, and about half of them experience symptoms such as severe knee pain or stiffness.
While exercise is one of the main treatment options for managing osteoarthritis, there is no clear recommendation on which types are most effective.
To find out, researchers analysed data from 217 randomised trials involving 15,684 patients. These studies compared the effects of different exercise types, such as aerobic, flexibility, strengthening, mind-body, neuromotor and mixed routines, with control groups. The outcomes measured included pain, physical function, walking ability and quality of life, assessed over short-term (four weeks), mid-term (12 weeks) and long-term (24 weeks) periods.
For your daily dose of medical news and updates, visit: HEALTH
Overall, aerobic exercise outperformed all other exercise types in improving pain, function, walking performance and quality of life.
Compared with control groups, aerobic exercise significantly reduced pain in the short and mid-term, improved function across all time periods, and enhanced walking ability and quality of life in the short- and mid-term.
Other exercise types also showed specific benefits: mind-body exercises (like tai chi or yoga) improved short-term function; neuromotor exercises enhanced short-term walking performance; flexibility exercises helped relieve long-term pain; and strengthening and mixed routines improved mid-term function.
Importantly, none of the exercise types caused more side effects than the control groups.
Based on these results, the researchers recommend aerobic exercise “as a first line intervention for knee osteoarthritis management, particularly when the aim is to improve functional capacity and reduce pain”.