Therapeutic rehabilitation is crucial regardless of the stage of the disease and the location of degenerative lesions. Even if no improvement in mobility is achieved as a result of sanatorium treatment, reduction of lower limb joint dysfunction is of much importance. Osteoarthritis is clinically defined mainly by pains upon movement and joint stiffness. The intensity of pain upon movement reduces the muscular blood variable suggestive of inflammation; exacerbated stiffness leads to joint dysfunction. Both pains upon movement and joint stiffness determine the variability of patients' quality of life. The aim of the study was to identify functional relationship of patients' quality of life on joint stiffness and pains upon movements in subjects treated in Sanatorium Sanvit in Iwoniczu Zdrój in 2011.
The cross-sectional study was conducted in 26 (62%) female and 16 (38%) male patients. The mean age of female and male patients was the same (about 56 years). The mean duration of the disease was also the same in female and male patients (about 9 years). The osteoarthritis patients were assessed using the Rheumatoid and Arthritis Outcome Score (RAOS) and the curve fitting and regression method.
The quality of life of patients with lower limb osteoarthritis as a function of the combined variables of joint stiffness and pains upon movement increased less than proportionally. Relative contribution ratios showed that the relative impact of the joint stiffness on the quality of life was 27.26%, while the relative impact of pains upon movement was 72.74%.
The experiments showed that the quality of life in patients depended mostly on the pain in the joints upon movement (0.4923); the relationship was 2.67 times weaker in case of joint stiffness (0.1845).