Stepped exercise program shows benefits for knee OA

Reuters Health - 29/12/2020 - A stepped exercise program for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (KOA) can produce "modest improvements" in symptoms at nine months, according to a new study in US veterans. "STEP-KOA could be an efficient way to deliver exercise and physical therapy based services for people with knee osteoarthritis, since it reserves the more resource intensive 'steps' for people who do not make improvements earlier," Dr. Kelli D. Allen of the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation at the Durham VA Health Care System in North Carolina told Reuters Health in an email. "This could be important in health systems that are trying to maximize resources or when there is limited access to physical therapy." While exercise-based therapies such as PT are effective for knee OA, "the vast majority of patients with knee osteoarthritis are physically inactive, and PT is substantially underused," Dr. Allen and her team note. "Reasons ...

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Posted on 29 December, 20208 January, 2021