The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the treatment programs of home-based exercise with and without self-manual therapy in individuals with knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) in community.
Forty-three participants with knee OA were randomly assigned in groups. All participants received the same home-based exercise program with or without self-manual therapy over 12 weeks. Outcome measures were pain intensity, range of motions, six-minute walk test distance, the knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS), short-form 36 (SF-36) and satisfaction.
The results showed that the self-manual therapy program significantly decreased pain at 4 weeks, increased flexion and extension at 4 and 12 weeks, and improved the KOOS in pain item and SF-36 in physical function and mental health items. The home-based exercise group showed significant increase of the six-minute walk distance at 4 and 12 weeks, improvements in the KOOS in pain and symptom items and SF-36 in the physical function and role-emotional items.
Overall, the results favored a combination of self-manual therapy and home-based exercise for patients with knee OA, which apparently showed superior benefits in decreasing pain and improving active knee range of motions.