Article

OBJECTIVE: To investigate a new style of resistance exercise using elastic bands
and explore its therapeutic effect on the lower-extremity function of female
patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. DESIGN: A randomized, controlled
clinical trial. SETTING: University-affiliated medical center. PARTICIPANTS:
Forty-one women with mild-to-moderate knee OA were randomly assigned to one of
two groups, an exercise group (n = 24; age: 65.0 +/- 8.4 years), and a control
group (n = 17; age: 70.8 +/- 8.4 years). INTERVENTIONS:
The exercise group
performed supervised exercise with elastic bands in addition to conventional
modality treatments two to three times a week for 8 weeks. The control group
received only the conventional modality treatments over the same period. MAIN
OUTCOME MEASURES: The distance of the functional forward-reach, 30 s chair stand
repetitions, walking function (time of a 10 m walk, timed up-and-go, and going
up-and-down 13-stair tests), and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities
Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) index scores. RESULTS: Statistically significant
improvements in all measures were observed in the exercise group after 8 weeks (p
< 0.001). Except for the outcomes on the functional forward-reach (p = 0.108) and
going up-and-down 13-stair test (p = 0.278), there were significant differences
in the extent of improvement between the two groups. Positive changes in the 30 s
chair stand test, 10 m walk test, and timed up-and-go test were 2.5 +/- 1.4
repetitions, 1.4 +/- 1.2 s, and 1.6 +/- 1.1 s in the exercise group, which were
significant better than those in the control group (0.6 +/- 0.9 repetitions, 0.5
+/- 1.1 s, and 0.3 +/- 1.1 s, respectively) (p </= 0.001). The lower scores of
all three subscales of the WOMAC index were significant after 8 weeks (p </=
0.05), especially for pain (-2.3 +/- 1.3) and physical function (-10.7 +/- 5.9)
(both p </= 0.01), and the improvements were all significant better than those of
the control group (p </= 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A new style of resistance exercise
using elastic bands with four color combinations (yellow-red, red-red, red-green,
and green-green) over a period of 8 weeks can significantly improve
lower-extremity function among females with mild-to-moderate knee OA.

Langue : ANGLAIS