Effect of Electrotherapy and Strength Training of Selected Lower Limb Muscles on Pain and Balance in Elderly Women with Knee Osteoarthritis with Emphasis on the Type of Focus of Attention

Given that knee osteoarthritis, as one of the most common joint diseases in the elderly, causes pain and imbalance, leading to disruption of daily activities and performance of this group of society, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of electrotherapy and strength training of the knee extensor and thigh extensor muscles on pain and balance in elderly women with osteoarthritis of the knee with emphasis on the type of focus of attention.

In the current study 31 elderly women aged 60 to 80 years with osteoarthritis of the knee from the elderly center of Kerman after filling out the consent form, accidentally participated in two research groups as subjects in this study. The individuals in each group were randomly divided into two subgroups: the external focus and the internal focus. The exercises were performed three times a week for eight weeks. To assess pain, a VAS scale, and to assess a static, dynamic and total balance, Rumberg, TGUG, and TBT tests were used before and after the test, respectively. For statistical analysis of the data with SPSS software, version 20 and dependent ammonia test were used for intragroup comparison and independent test for intergroup comparison for normal data and for non-normal data, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests were used. For all tests, a significance level was p≤0/05.

: The results showed a decrease in the amount of pain in both electrotherapy and strength training of the quadriceps muscles and hip abductors group, both of which showed external and internal focus. An improvement was seen in the equilibrium index, in the dynamic and total equilibrium (p≤0.05). The results of the independent t-test for comparing the groups did not show a significant difference in the pain variable based on the numerical measurement scale between the quadriceps training group and the hip abductor training group (p ˃ 0.05). While the difference between internal and external attention was significant (p ≤0.05). The results did not show a significant difference in the balance index in any of the balance indicators between the two groups of quadriceps and hip abductor (p˃0.05), but between the internal and external attention group in the dynamic balance index (TGUG), The difference between the two groups became significant (p ≤ 0.05).

According to the results of the research, strength training of the hip abductor muscles along with common electrotherapy treatments and attention-oriented guidelines can be recommended for pain management and improving the level of performance of the elderly with osteoarthritis of the knee.